


What A Way to Make a Living.

by islabbe



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Office, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Friends to Lovers, Humor, Minor Bellamy Blake/Echo, Minor Charmaine Diyoza/Marcus Kane, Minor Clarke Griffin/Lexa, Minor Emori/John Murphy (The 100), Minor Raven Reyes/Miles Ezekiel Shaw, Mutual Pining, POV Alternating, Set It Up au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-16
Updated: 2018-07-16
Packaged: 2019-06-11 13:19:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 23,269
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15316347
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/islabbe/pseuds/islabbe
Summary: “That’s what her problem is,” Bellamy said.  Clarke snapped her attention back to him.  “She just needs to get laid.”Clarke scrunched her nose up.  “She needs more than that.”“Well,” Bellamy said, finishing off the rest of his drink.  “Kane needs to get laid.”Bellamy expected Clarke to laugh.  He looked over at her but she was staring at him with a small smile on his face.  He felt his face heat up.“What?”  He asked, wiping his face in case he had something there.“What if we set them up?”  Clarke said, her smile growing across her face.“What?”  He asked.  How was that a good idea?“Well,” she explained.  “We know their entire schedules, we know everything about them.  They could sleep with each other and we’d get our lives back.”He chuckled now.  “Yeah, that’s a great idea, Clarke.  Let’s get our bosses to bang.”OR:  The bellarke Set It Up AU that no one asked for.





	What A Way to Make a Living.

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone! I watched Set It Up just over a week ago and I wasn't even halfway through the movie when I started planning my bellarke AU for it. Don't worry if you haven't seen the film, though! I changed a lot of the plot anyway!
> 
> Turns out, this is the longest fic I've ever published so that's something! 
> 
> Pre-warning: this fic has becho as a couple, BUT I tried to refrain from going into detail, so this should be okay. However, if that's not your jam feel free to leave this one :)
> 
> I'd just like to give a massive thank you to everyone that has encouraged me with this one! You would not believe how many time I thought about giving up and leaving this on my laptop, so this one's for you!
> 
> Title taken from Dolly Patron's _9 to 5_ because I have very little imagination when it comes to titling fics.
> 
> Anyway, on to the fic!

 

10:05AM – Business call with Senator Michaels – Do not disturb.

10:15AM – Coffee order – skinny latte with one and a half sugars.

11:00AM – Conference meeting with publicity team – Make sure Harper has notes from last meeting copied.

 

Clarke scrolled through her day.  Well, technically, it wasn’t _her_ day; it was Diyoza’s.  Charmaine Diyoza was one of the most influential politicians in the city and Clarke was lucky enough to be her personal assistant.  Clarke scrolled through her phone as the subway ground to a halt at the next stop.  She looked up at the top of her phone screen and saw it was 9:45AM.  Luckily for Clarke, Diyoza was in later today, so she didn’t have to queue at the coffeeshop for twenty minutes like usual.  If this train didn’t hurry up though, she would still be late with Diyoza’s coffee.

Charmain Diyoza was a very particular woman.  She liked her things to be organised, she liked the same coffee every morning from the same place.  She could grate on people’s nerves, but not Clarke’s.  Clarke had idolised Diyoza since she was a kid.  As Clarke had sat in high school classes, she’d watched as Diyoza has raised her way through the ranks of New York politics.  In traditionally male-dominated circles, she’d made a name for herself.  She was outspoken and loud, and people were listening to her.  Her office was one of the biggest in New York, with people applying for internships nonstop.  Clarke was lucky to be on a payroll there, and she knew it.

When Abby had suggested setting up a meeting with her, Clarke had been ecstatic.  Sure, eventually she wanted to be more than just an assistant, but if it allowed her to get her foot in the door and get Diyoza’s attention, Clarke was more than happy to run out for coffee at 9AM, or collect her laundry at 10PM.  It was all part of being an assistant to one of the best politicians Clarke had ever known.

The subway carriage started moving again and Clarke looked back at the top of her phone.  9:48AM.  She suppressed a sigh.  Clarke lived her life by schedules, whether they be her own, her mother’s, or her boss’.  She was going to be late.  Clarke locked her phone and looked out of the small, muggy window of the subway carriage.  Her foot tapped rhythmically as the carriage slowly continued its route.  The sun shone over New York city, streaks of light shining off the immaculate glass of the tall skyscrapers.  Clarke couldn’t help but smile at how beautiful it looked.

No matter how beautiful New York was, she couldn’t stop to stare as the sun as her stop came up.  She pushed her way towards the steel doors, smiling apologetically as she barged into someone.  She hopped from one foot to the other while she waited for the doors to slide open.  She looked at her phone; she had ten minutes to get coffee and get up to the office.  The familiar squeak of metal against metal as the subway carriage doors opened pulled her from her thoughts.  She scrambled to put her phone back in her bag and raced through the subway station.

 

***

 

Bellamy Blake loved his job, he really did.  Working for a publishing company was amazing.  He got to see the inner workings of the editing room, he knew what it would take to publish a book, and he worked closely with Marcus Kane – one of the best book publishers in the state.  He loved working there, he just wished he could be more than Marcus’ assistant.  Sure, he sat in the editing meetings sometimes, but he had to take whatever notes Marcus wanted him to, and he wasn’t allowed to contribute no matter how good he thought his ideas were.

 _Kane Books Publishing_ was one of the most sought-after publishing companies on the East Coast.  Bellamy knew he was lucky to work there, no matter what his job title was.  He’d wanted to write books since he was little and made up bedtime stories for his sister, Octavia.  If he ever got around to writing something, maybe he’d show it to Marcus and he could put in a good word for him.  His job was so hectic he rarely had time to sleep, forget any writing.

“Bellamy!”  Kane called from his office.  Bellamy shot out of his chair.  _Here we go again_ , he thought.

“Yeah?”  He asked as he stepped into the office.  Kane’s office faced the North side of the building, so the sunlight didn’t hit it directly but it still allowed natural light in most of the time.  Bellamy looked over at Kane’s silhouette as he looked over the working city.  Bellamy took out his notepad, ready to jot down whatever it was that Kane wanted. 

“As you know, my launch party is next month,” Kane started.  Bellamy looked up at him and nodded.  Kane continued to face away from him, not looking over at Bellamy.

“I want it to be perfect.  We’ve had a rocky last few months and I want this to be the way we set the benchmark for the rest of the year.  Do you understand?”  Kane turned and looked over at Bellamy expectantly.

“Uh, yeah.”  He cleared his throat.  “Of course, what were you thinking?”

Kane started to rattle off lists of items he wanted Bellamy to prepare, guest lists he wanted writing, and a menu he wanted preparing for the evening.

“Did you get all that?”  Kane asked.  Bellamy scribbled down _calamari_ and then shot his attention back up.

“Yes sir,” he replied with a curt nod.

“Good,” Kane said.  “Now get me some coffee.”

 

***

 

The blast of AC was welcome as Clarke stepped into her regular coffeeshop.  Diyoza liked rich, thoroughly blended coffee.  She was particular about most things, but she was especially particular about her coffee.  Once, Clarke had brought her Starbucks and put it in a different takeaway cup and Diyoza had poured it out onto her office balcony in disgust. 

Diyoza’s favourite coffeeshop was some weird hipster coffeeshop that specialised in nitro-blends.  Clarke never seemed to have the time to try any of them, so she settled for a flat white.  The cashier started to prepare her drinks and got her a takeaway cup holder.  When the drinks were ready he turned back to her with a customer service smile.

“That’ll be ten dollars, please,” the cashier said as he placed the cups down on the counter in front of her.  Clarke smiled and took out her purse.

“Is card okay?” She asked as she took out her American Express card.  The cashier looked over at her with an apologetic smile.  He slid the drinks back over the counter slightly, but Clarke noticed.

“Sorry, ma’am,” he explained.  “The card machine broke earlier this morning.  It’s cash only for now.”

Clarke felt her stomach drop.  She’d spend her last physical dollar last week.  When she worked for Diyoza everything was always on card or online.  She couldn’t remember the last time she’d payed for a coffee with cash.  She turned her head and saw the queue had grown behind her, almost out of the door of the small coffeeshop.  Clarke shot them an apologetic smile and turned back to the cashier.

“But I don’t have cash,” Clarke replied.  Her voice sounded desperate and people in the queue behind her were clicking their tongues in annoyance.  She knew the closest ATM was a five-minute walk away; she passed it on her walk from the subway station, and the queue was even longer than the one in the coffeeshop.

“Sorry,” the cashier said.  He turned his attention to the person behind Clarke.  Clarke placed her hands on the counter firmly, not giving up her coffee.

“Look,” she said sternly.  “I order from you five days a week, I always pay, and I always leave a tip.  I’ll be back tomorrow.  I’ll even pay you double.  Just, please can I have this coffee?”

The cashier stood dumbfounded, his mouth halfway open as he stared at Clarke.  Admittedly, she probably looked crazy, losing her shit over a coffee order.  But it wasn’t coffee for _her_ , it was for Diyoza, and if she didn’t get it to her she’d be fired.

“How much is it?”  Came a voice from behind her.  Clarke turned around.  A guy was walking towards the counter holding out his wallet.  Clarke smiled embarrassedly, but she was grateful.  The guy was a few inches taller than her with brown curly hair, if Clarke wasn’t so focused on her coffee order, she might have noticed him before.

“Uh,” the cashier said looking back at the cash register.  “Ten dollars.”

Clarke found herself taking in the stranger.  He was dressed in a shirt and tie (like every other guy in the coffeeshop) and he was wearing a messenger bag.  When she looked up at his face to give him a thankful smile she saw he had a splattering of freckles across his tanned sin, and dark eyes that refused to meet her gaze.

“Thanks,” she said gratefully.  He gave her a tight smile and nodded.

He handed the money over and Clarke found herself staring at his tanned hands – his large, _attractive_ hands.  Clarke snapped herself out of it as he used said hands to pick up the coffees and turn away from the counter.

“Hey!”  Called Clarke as he walked out of the shop.  She chased after him, shoving her purse back in her bag.

He didn’t stop, so she had to break into a run to catch up to him.

“Hey!”  She tried again, grabbing his arm this time.

“Can I help you?”  He asked, taking in her sweaty, disarrayed appearance.  Clarke folded her arms, suddenly self-conscious.  He looked at her expectantly and she finally found her voice again.

“You stole my coffee,” she told him, gesturing to the cups in his hand.

“That’s weird,” he said and she raised a brow at him.  “I could have sworn _I_ paid for it.”

He shot her a smug smile and carried on walking.

“Wait!  Please!”  Clarke called after him.

He made his way towards her office building.  Realisation clicked in her mind; he worked in the same building as her.  She was struck by how big the office building was; she didn’t even recognise this man.  She snapped into action and side-stepped him quickly to block his entrance.  He stepped away from her, glaring hard now.  She didn’t care.

“The coffee isn’t for me,” she explained, sounding slightly out of breath from running down the street.  “It’s for my boss, and if I don’t get it to her, I’ll get fired.”

He narrowed his eyes, like he was trying to decide if she was lying.

“This coffee isn’t for me either,” he explained and Clarke felt herself deflate.  “It’s for _my_ boss.”

He tried to move past her again and she made one last ditch attempt to get the coffee back.  She held her arms out, fully blocking his way.  He rolled his eyes and she saw his jaw clench.

“Okay,” she tried.  “There’s two orders there, one of them was mine.  How about I take the latte and you can have the flat white?”

He looked down at the two cups and then back at her.  He took a moment to think it over.

“Okay,” he said and Clarke let out a relieved laugh.  “But you’ll have to pay me back.”

“Of course,” Clarke replied, nodding.

“With interest,” he said, raising a brow. 

Clarke rolled her eyes.  “Fine.”

He held out the cup for her, which she took with a forced smile.

“Thank you,” she said, bitterly. 

He tipped the other coffee cup towards her.  “You’re welcome, Princess.”

She scowled at the nickname and she turned on her heel to get back to the office.  She exhaled once she’d passed security, she’d done it.

In the elevator, she checked her phone. Diyoza liked to send over voice files rather than texts, and Clarke listened to them on the ride up.  She made quick notes on her phone, the usual; pick up laundry, call Paxton to set up a meeting, send files over to Harper.  Clarke checked the time and saw it was 10:12AM.

“ _Shitshitshit_ ,” she said to herself as she ran out of the elevator.

The office was bustling when she got in.  Sure, Diyoza didn’t have to run a campaign again for another two years, but her phones were always ringing.  Clarke all but ran across the bullring, bee-lining for Diyoza’s office.  She quickly set her bag down at her desk.  She eyed her office phone as she walked past, it was already lighting up with incoming calls and messages.  Clarke checked the clock on the wall.  10:14AM.  She’d just about made it.

With a breath of relief, she made her way into Diyoza’s office.

“Finally,” Diyoza announced as she looked up at Clarke. 

Clarke shot her a small smile and set the cup down on her desk.  She wiped the sheen of sweat from her forehead and ran out of the office to grab her planner, ready to start the day.

 

***

 

Bellamy found himself throwing an elastic band ball around the office.  Kane had been in meetings with printing companies and potential writers all day.  Right now, Kane had a meeting with some grad student and it had dragged on far longer than Bellamy had anticipated.  Bellamy had reworked his entire calendar for the next month, he’d triple checked all of Kane’s meetings, and he’d even reorganised his mail into alphabetical order.

He caught the ball as it bounced back off the floor.  The office door clicked open and he quickly put the ball away.

“It was so nice to see you again, George.”  Kane said to the younger man.

Bellamy was pretty sure he could smell this guy’s cologne from his seat behind the desk.  His hair was gelled back and his smile was blindingly white.  Bellamy tried not to snicker as Kane gave George a thin-lipped smile.  Kane clapped the younger man on the arm and have him a nod before turning back to his office.

It wasn’t that Bellamy disliked this George guy, he just wasn’t that fond of grad students in general.  They were always calling Kane’s office asking for internships or references and they always started the same way _“Hi, hello.  I’m part of the Harvard/Dartmouth/UCLA alumni and I was wondering if Mr Kane would…”_ as if dropping their university name would guarantee them a meeting – and it did most times.  Bellamy detested them.  He’d worked hard for his position at this company, and they walked in as if the publishing deal would fall into their hands the moment Kane saw their diploma.

“You’re so lucky,” said George.  “Marcus must be great to work for.”

Bellamy snapped his attention to him.  Kane had slinked back into his office and George had turned to face him.  It was rare that the people that came through this office even acknowledged him, even more rare that they spoke to him _personally_.

“Uh...?”  Bellamy wasn’t sure how to respond.  “Yeah, he’s great.”

George seemed to eat it up.  “He was so amazing.  I just called him up and he’s offered to read my manuscript already!”

Bellamy didn’t reply.  He gave the man a tight-lipped smile.  He watched as George walked out of the office, whistling to himself.  Bellamy clenched his jaw.

God, he hated grad students.

 

***

 

By the time Clarke got home, the sun had long since set.  She picked up some takeaway on the way home (making sure that they’d let her pay card this time).  She settled into the couch in the living room, ready to catch up on some TV before heading to bed.  The rice tasted bland and the curry paste had separated since she bought it.  Clarke scrunched her nose up, and flicked the remote on her TV. 

While she ate her food, she took out her phone.  She saw she had a couple missed calls from her mom, which she ignored, and a couple of messages on Tinder.  The guy she’d meant to go out tonight with hadn’t texted again, though.  Clarke hadn’t even wanted Tinder to begin with, it had been Raven’s idea.  If anything, it was just another reminder of how much her job sucked; she was constantly cancelling dates because Diyoza asked her to stay late, or leaving because she had an emergency meeting to prepare for.  She sighed and put her phone down on the coffee table. 

She was staring at the curry and rice mush on her plate, contemplating just getting an early night when she heard the jingle of keys.  Clarke heard the apartment door open and a smile broke out across her face as Raven wobbled into the apartment.

Clarke and Raven had a rocky relationship to start off with.  Okay, _rocky_ was putting it lightly.  But what else could they have expected when it turned out the same guy was cheating on both of them?  Somehow, they’d both moved past it and decided to become friends in spite of it.  Now, Raven was her best and closest friend.  She’d been with Clarke through everything in the past five years.  Clarke couldn’t be happier that they’d given their friendship a chance, if only because she got to see a drunk Raven stumble around the living room trying to take off her shoe.

“Clarke!!”  She cheered as the made her way across the room.  Clarke raised a brow at her roommate.  Raven didn’t normally get this drunk, especially not on a weeknight.  She saw Zeke trail in after her with an easy smile on his face.  She shot him a questioning look but he just shrugged at her.

Raven had met Zeke at some networking party their university had put on for it’s their alumni in industry.  Raven worked for a tech security company, and Zeke had been part of one of their competitors.  That is, until Raven shut down his program while the party was in full swing.  Zeke, rather than be pissed off with her, was so awestruck that he had to ask her out (or so Raven’s side of the story went).  They’d been dating for just over a year, now. 

Clarke really liked Zeke.  He could hold a conversation with just about anyone, and he liked the same old TV shows that she did.  He was quiet, which Clarke didn’t mind.  But most of all, he was good for Raven.  He brought out a side of her that Clarke had never seen, and Raven looked happier than Clarke had ever seen her.

Raven wrapped her arms around Clarke.  Clarke got a whiff of bars and pizza, and underneath that, Raven’s favourite perfume.  Clarke assumed it was their date night.

“Hey,” she responded weakly as Raven let her go.

“Clarke, you know I love you,” Raven started, looking at her very intensely.  Clarke shot a worried look to Zeke.  He shook his head, no she shouldn’t be worried.

“Raven…?”  Clarke asked, shooting her best friend a suspicious look.  She raised her eyebrow and Raven cracked a smile.

Raven took a deep breath.  “Zeke and I are moving in together!”  She exclaimed.

Clarke stared at her friend for a moment.  She hadn’t been expecting that.  She was shocked to silence and Raven started at her expectantly, a small laugh escaping her.

“Oh my god!”  Clarke exclaimed as she snapped back into action.  “That’s so amazing!”

She grinned and pulled Raven in for a hug.  She squeezed her best friend and gestured for Zeke to join in.  Sheepishly, he made his way over to them and wrapped his arms loosely around the two girls.

“I’m so excited for both of you!”  Clarke said as she was squashed between the pair.  She felt Zeke chuckle behind her and Raven pulled away.

“I need to make a Pinterest board,” Raven said, deadly serious.

 

Later that night, Clarke lay in bed unable to sleep.  She was so happy for Raven, her best friend was in a loving, happy relationship, but her moving out caused problems for Clarke.  Renting an apartment in New York was expensive, and if Raven moved in with Zeke she’d have to pay the entire rent on her own.  Her job paid well enough, but Clarke would have to make some serious changes if she wanted to stay living here.  She huffed and rolled over.  She needed to be up at six tomorrow.

 

***

 

Bellamy checked his watch as he left the building.  It was almost 10PM.  He mentally cursed Kane.  Sure, he knew Kane wanted this launch party to be perfect, but why did he have to make him stay so late?

Bellamy grabbed his bag, making sure he had all his chargers and folders before walking towards the subway station.  He hated riding the subway this late at night, it was just full of drunks and people on their way out of town.  The only bright side was that it was significantly quieter than it was in the morning and early evening.

He managed to get a seat and took out the manuscript Kane had dropped on his desk earlier that day.  It was some general fiction story about a couple who were separated by one of the World Wars.  It was one of the generic fiction stories that Kane liked to endorse just to keep up sales for the company while the other writers with more outlandish ideas finished off their first drafts. 

Usually, the history aspect of the story would have kept his attention, but Bellamy felt his eyes drooping slowly as he reread the same line for the fifth time.  All the words blurred together and he couldn’t even make out the page number.  His eyes started to drift shut and he found himself slumped against his plastic seat; suddenly comfier than anything else he’d ever sat on.  His head fell forward slowly before it snapped back up.

He was wide awake again.  He shook his head, trying to keep himself awake.  He looked around, but no one was looking at him, this was the New York subway after all.  He put the manuscript away and took out his phone.  He had three missed calls and a voicemail, all from Echo. 

He felt his stomach twist, knowing he’d missed their date night for the third time in a month.  His thumb hovered over the voicemail button.  Steeling himself, he pressed play and moved the phone up to his ear.

“Bellamy,” she started.  She sounded annoyed and he inwardly cringed.  “I don’t know what it is that Kane has you doing that’s so much more important than our date, but I’ve been here for the past forty minutes.” 

Bellamy ran a hand through his hair and she continued.  “Anyway, I’m going home.  I don’t know when you’re going to pull your head out of your ass and realise I should be more important than your job, but…”  He heard her take a deep breath and he felt his heart clench.  “I’m going to my apartment, anyway.  Bye.”

The message clicked off and the operator started listing options.  He cut the call off and let out a breath he didn’t know he’d been holding.  Dating a model was something Bellamy hadn’t ever expected in a million years.  He’d met Echo at one of the many publicity parties that Kane dragged him along to, and he’s thought she was stunning as soon as he’d met her. 

At first, things had been great; he took her out to dinner all the time, and the sex was great.  Bellamy would never get bored of telling people he dated a model.  But recently, his job was making him give up more and more of his free time, and things with Echo were getting rocky.  She was getting booked for more and more shoots in faraway places, and he couldn’t find the time to see her.  He felt like their relationship was dangling on a string, and every time they had to cancel or rearrange, it felt like they were getting closer and closer to just calling it quits and cutting the thread.

Bellamy was pulled from his thoughts when the automated voice let everyone know that the next stop was coming up, his stop.  He stood up, feeling more tired now than he had in months.  His legs were aching from the plastic seats of the subway and his neck twanged with pain as he stood up.

He needed a break.

 

***

 

The next day was hectic, but then again, every day in Kane’s office was hectic.  New publishing deals for the next few months were coming in quick and fast, meaning Bellamy’s phone was ringing off the hook all day.  Not to mention the that Bellamy was single-handedly planning Kane’s party.  Needless to say, Bellamy was run off his feet and hardly had time to grab some lunch. 

He texted Miller to say he’d be back to their apartment late.  His roommate responded with a very helpful thumbs up emoji.  Bellamy had meant to move out of Miller’s place almost two years ago, but work had got in the way and he didn’t have the time to look around new apartments.  Eventually, he’d probably move in with Echo in her apartment uptown.  They hadn’t spoken about living together, but he knew Echo loved her apartment and he didn’t want to live in the crappy three room apartment forever anyway.

Before long, it was 8PM.  Bellamy found himself staring out of one of the office windows.  The sun had set less than half an hour ago, casting a hazy orange glow over the city.  Flecks of light were reflecting in some of the windows of the skyscrapers across the street.  Bellamy turned his attention to his boss’ personal office.

Kane was sleeping in his office; he liked to take naps between international calls.  Bellamy got up from his desk.  The chair creaked as he stood and he hoped Kane didn’t wake up.  He stilled his movements, but Kane’s snore could be heard through the glass window; he was in the clear.

Bellamy went for a walk to the mailroom to try and get the blood rushing to his legs again.  He’d been hunched over his computer since the early morning and his back was still hurting.  Maybe he should see a chiropractor, or he would, if he had the money.  He shook his head at himself, he was fine.  He was starting to sound like Kane.

He started filing through the mail for the office, taking out any that were addressed to Kane.  He felt a tap on his shoulder.

He spun around.  “What the fuck?”

He looked down.  It was the woman from yesterday.  The one whose coffee he had bought.  She was dressed in a black pantsuit not dissimilar from yesterday.  Her blonde hair was up in a messy bun, but she looked less disarrayed today.

“Here’s your interest,” she said bitterly, shoving some notes in his hand.  Bellamy stood dumbfounded for a moment.  She turned on her heel before he could even say anything and he was left spluttering as he watched her walk away.

“Do you work here?”  He asked her as she reached the door.

She turned back around and gave him a questioning look.

“Are you like a janitor or something?”  He clarified.  She seemed to always be here.  He’d seen her around the offices a few times.  Sure, she was a little overdressed, but Bellamy wasn’t one to judge.

“I work for Charmaine Diyoza,” she said as he followed her out of the mailroom.

“Who?”  He asked.  He didn’t really keep up with who worked where.  He knew there was some big shot lawyer up on the top floor, but that was about it.

“She’s the senator for district twenty-eight?”  She looked over at him like he was crazy.  He didn’t keep up with politics outside of his district.  He gave her a half shrug as they continued down the corridor.

“She’s one of the youngest politician to get to where she is,” she carried.  Her hands flying out in elaborate gestures as she continued.  “She got the DA to resign earlier this year?” She prompted again.

Bellamy shrugged.  “I don’t keep up with Manhattan politics.  And I especially don’t know anyone with offices in this building, except Kane.”

“Is that the publisher?”  She asked and he nodded in response.  “I think my mom went to college with him.”

“Of course she did,” he replied bitterly before he could stop himself.  The blonde snapped her eyes to him.  He didn’t realise exactly how fitting his Princess nickname had been yesterday.  She probably got the job through her mom or something.  He grimaced and she continued. 

“Why are you still here?”  She asked as they reached a part of the building he’d never been to.

“I’m Kane’s assistant, I can’t leave until he leaves,” he explained.  “I’m always the last one here, Princess.”

“Nah,” she returned, a smirk on her lips.  “I’m always the last one here.”

That set her off on a rant about Diyoza having a bed in her office, which in turn resulted in Bellamy telling her about Kane’s weird wake up music.

 

***

 

“Diyoza is the worst to work for,” Clarke finished.  The guy, Bellamy she’d found out, scoffed at her.

“I don’t know, Clarke,” he returned, a smile playing at his lips.  “Kane is pretty bad.”

She sat down at her desk.  Diyoza had gone out for a few hours, but she intended to be back later that evening.  If it was anything like it usually was, Clarke would receive a text in about an hour telling her Diyoza had gone home.

“Diyoza refuses to drink any alcohol except wine or tequila.  And, even then, it has to be ridiculously expensive,” Clarke explained as she rooted around her desk.  “One time, I saw her throw out an entire bottle of vodka just because it was flavoured.”

Bellamy stayed quiet and she found what she was looking for.

“Aha,” she announced as she emerged from under the desk, holding a bottle and two small cups.

“What’s that?”  Bellamy asked sceptically.

“It’s whiskey that Diyoza didn’t deem _to her taste_ ,” Clarke explained.  “Okay, so she didn’t put it that delicately, but she doesn’t want it.”

“Hmm,” Bellamy replied.

“Come on,” she said, gesturing to a chair nearby.  “I think we deserve a drink.”

“Clarke,” Bellamy said, his voice dropping.  “We’re at work.”

Clarke looked around her.  Her voice dropped to a whisper. “We’re the only ones here.”

 

***

 

A few drinks later, and Clarke and Bellamy were setting on opposite sides of her desk laughing about how awful their bosses were.  Bellamy was feeling the buzz of the alcohol.  The whiskey tasted like shit, no wonder Diyoza hadn’t wanted it, but it had been a while since he’d drank anything that wasn’t beer. 

His phone buzzed with a text from Echo.  He took his phone out.  She’d sent him a photo of the party she was tonight.

“Ugh,” he groaned.  He turned his phone around and showed Clarke.  “Echo’s always going to these really cool parties, and I’m always at work.”

Clarke nodded sympathetically.

“I don’t remember the last time I went out on a date,” she replied, sipping more of her whiskey.  “My roommate is moving in with her boyfriend and the last time I had a boyfriend he was cheating on me with her.”

Clarke was staring down at her phone but Bellamy’s head snapped up.

“Wait, what?”  He asked.  She looked over at him and she smiled embarrassedly.

“In college, we dated the same guy but we didn’t know,” she explained with a nod.

“And now you’re best friends?”  Bellamy asked, an impressed smile on his face.

“Well, yeah,” Clarke returned with a shrug, a small smile playing on her face.  “We’re both awesome, so.”

Bellamy laughed at that and Clarke stared at him for a moment before joining.  When was the last time he even laughed at work?  God, he needed more free time.

“What if I end up like Diyoza?”  She asked, suddenly serious.  Bellamy’s laughter died at her tone.

“What if,” she started, wetting her lips and sitting up.  “I end up sleeping with my computer every night?”

Her face was one of horror and Bellamy was tempted to start laughing again.

“That’s what her problem is,” Bellamy said.  Clarke snapped her attention back to him.  “She just needs to get laid.”

Clarke scrunched her nose up.  “She needs more than that.”

“Well,” Bellamy said, finishing off the rest of his drink.  “Kane needs to get laid.”

Bellamy expected Clarke to laugh.  He looked over at her but she was staring at him with a small smile on his face.  He felt his face heat up.

“What?”  He asked, wiping his face in case he had something there.

“What if we set them up?”  Clarke said, her smile growing across her face.

“What?”  He asked.  _How was that a good idea?_

“Well,” she explained.  “We know their entire schedules, we know everything about them.  They could sleep with each other and we’d get our lives back.”

He chuckled now.  “Yeah, that’s a great idea, Clarke.  Let’s get our bosses to bang.”

 

***

 

Clarke may have been joking about setting them up, but when she thought about it, it really was a brilliant idea.  If Diyoza was out of the office with Kane she could get some rest, she could meet someone and then maybe her mom would get off her case. 

She strolled into the office with a smile on her face.  Her phone buzzed with a text from her mom telling her that Wells Jaha was “just in town” and “wanted to know if she was free for lunch?”  Clarke put her phone away and made her way to her office.

 

During her break, she made her around the building.  _Kane Books Publishing_ was two floors down from Diyoza’s office, but when Clarke stepped onto the floor she may as well have stepped into a completely different building.

Sure, the walls and the carpet were the same as they were in Diyoza’s office but Kane’s office felt more homely.  Where Diyoza’s office was all open spaces with strategically placed furniture to give off a minimalistic feel, Kane’s was crammed with books everywhere, and comfy couches scattered around the room.  Clarke could just sit down and fall asleep, but she had business to attend to.  She spotted Bellamy hunched over his desk and made her way over.

“Hey,” she said placing her laptop on his desk.

“Jesus Christ, Clarke.”  He jumped in response.  “You have _got_ to stop doing that.”

Clarke waved him off, they had work to do.  She opened her laptop and showed him the spreadsheet she’d been working on.

“What’s this?”  He asked, eyeing the colour coded chart that had kept her up most of last night.

“I’ve compiled a list of everything I know about Diyoza,” she replied proudly.  Bellamy slowly brought his gaze up to hers.

“Why?”  He asked, looking at her like she was crazy.

“So we can set them up,” she explained with a shrug as if it was the most obvious thing ever.

“No thanks, Princess,” he said, closing her laptop.  “I’ve got work to do for my actual job.”

Clarke looked around, checking the coast was clear.

“Bellamy, think about it.  I know we were joking last night, but what if it worked?  We could get our lives back.  You could take Echo out for lunch every day.”

He stopped his typing and looked over at her.  She could see the cogs in his head turning as he mulled it over.

“Fine,” he sighed.  Clarke’s face broke out in a smile.  “But I have work to do.”

Clarke nodded, a grin still on her face.  She picked up her laptop.

“I’ll meet you at lunch?” 

His response was a grunt as he pored over the books in front of him.  Clarke bit her lip to stop her smile spreading as she made her way back up to her office.

 

***

 

Setting up Kane and Diyoza was more difficult than Bellamy had anticipated.  Him and Clarke being in control of their entire schedules made life easier, but it was proving difficult to work out exactly _how_ they could meet.

“Well,” started Clarke.  She bit into a red vine and chewed for a moment.  They were walking down the street, the summer air was causing everyone to spend as much time as possible outside, him included.

“Diyoza sees everything in terms of her image,” she made a vague gesture in front of her with her hands.

“Hmm,” Bellamy agreed, not really sure what she was getting at.

“So, if we could make Kane seem like positive publicity then she’d go for him,” she explained, before ripping off another chunk of candy. 

Bellamy thought this over.  Kane was a decent guy, but how could Bellamy sell him as good publicity?

“Oh,” he said aloud.  Clarke turned to him, pushing her sunglasses up as she stared up at him expectantly.  “He’s got a PR party coming up, she could go to that.”

Clarke seemed to mull it over.  She tapped the red vine against her lips.

“Will the press be there?”  She asked.  Bellamy nodded, a grin breaking out across his face.  Clarke’s smile spread across her face too and they made their way back towards the office.

 

***

 

“What’s this thing again?”  Diyoza asked, looking up from her phone.  Clarke cleared her throat and tried to remember the cover story her and Bellamy had come up with.

“Uh, it’s some publishing company’s relaunch party,” she explained.  “You RSVP’d months ago.”

There, that covered her bases, right?  Diyoza raised a brow the shrugged.  She turned her attention back to her phone and Clarke let out a relieved sigh.

The place Kane had chosen was in one of the nicer parts of town.  Clarke looked out of the private cab’s tinted windows as street lights danced past.  She looked down at her phone seeing Bellamy had texted to say they were there.  She quickly typed a reply back to say they were on their way.

The cab pulled up outside the restaurant and Clarke jumped out to open Diyoza’s door. 

“Thank you, Clarke,” Diyoza said with a small smile.  Clarke smiled back and followed Diyoza up to the entrance.

 

Once inside, Clarke separated from Diyoza and made her way over to Bellamy.  He was dressed in a suit similar to what he normally wore in the office, except now he was wearing a pair of black framed glasses.  He waved as Clarke made her way over.

“You look great,” he greeted with a smile.  She smoothed down the skirt of her dress.  It wasn’t too fancy, but it was still something she wouldn’t normally wear to the office.

“Thanks,” she said with a smile.  “Are those glasses real, or do you just wear them to launch parties?”

He chuckled and passed her a drink from the trays as a waiter walked past.  She nodded in thanks.

“No,” he said with a smile.  “I actually need glasses, I held books too close to my face as a kid.”

Clarke looked at him questioningly, was that a thing?  She might have bought it had he not ducked his head to hide his smile.  He chuckled and looked back up at her.  She rolled her eyes, laughing along with him.

“So,” she said after a sip of the wine she held.  “What’s the plan?”

Bellamy nodded over towards where Kane and Diyoza were stood and Clarke turned to face them.

“Kane’s going around and greeting everyone,” he explained, his voice coming out close to Clarke.  She felt herself shiver, the room was colder than she’d thought.  “And then they can chat about politics or whatever.”

Clarke nodded along.  The plan wasn’t perfect, but it would work.

 

***

 

The plan didn’t work.

Kane spent the night talking to his colleagues in the business and only gave a fleeting glance at Diyoza once throughout the whole night.  As the night wore on, Diyoza got more and more bored.  She threw a drink back and made her way over to Clarke, explaining this event was boring and full of stuck up writers that weren’t worth her time.  She looked Bellamy up and down, he held her gaze.  She turned her attention back to Clarke and asked her to call her driver.  Bellamy clenched his jaw and Clarke went off to get their coats. 

 

 **_Clarke Griffin  
_ ** _Well that went to shit…_

Bellamy resisted the urge to laugh out loud on the T.  He typed back his response.

 

 __ **Bellamy Blake**  
_At least we got them to meet._  
That has to count for something right?

 

The three dots appeared as Clarke typed out her answer.

 

 **_Clarke Griffin  
_ ** _Back to the drawing board…_

 

They didn’t have to wait too long for another opportunity to arise.  Later that week Clarke texted him asking if Kane was free on Thursday night.  He checked his calendar and replied, that yes, he was.

 

 **_Clarke Griffin  
_ ** _Good, book a table at Luigi’s for 8._

Luigi’s was a family-run Italian restaurant that promised to serve the best pasta in all of New York, and every meal ended with a smile.  It wasn’t the kind of place Bellamy expected Charmain Diyoza to eat at, but he supposed it was quiet enough that she could slip away without being spotted by the press or angry citizens.

“This is nice,” Bellamy told Clarke as he slid into the booth across from her.  They’d agreed to meet to supervise the dinner and push their bosses together.

“Thanks,” she replied looking over at him with a smile.  Judging by how she was dressed, she’d come straight from work, her hair was up in a tight pony tail and her make-up had smudged a little.

“Diyoza comes here every week,” she explained.  Sure enough, Bellamy looked over his shoulder and saw Diyoza sat with her laptop out and a dish in front of her.

Kane walked in through the door and waited to be seated.  Bellamy watched as he checked his phone, no doubt waiting to see what time is colleague would be arriving.  Bellamy had lied and told him he had a meeting with a client here tonight.

Bellamy ducked his head as Kane looked around the small restaurant.  Clarke and Bellamy watched as Kane was seated at a table close to Diyoza’s, as per Clarke’s request.  They shot each other a grin.

“What can I get you two this evening?”  Asked the server as he came to stand next to their table.

“Um,” Clarke looked over at Bellamy and he shrugged.  He wasn’t sure about Clarke, but he hadn’t had time to grab any dinner yet, and being around all this food was making him quite hungry.

“Can I please have the spaghetti carbonara?”  He asked and he saw Clarke duck her head.  He didn’t miss the flash of a smile, though.

 

They talked as they ate their dinner, all the while keeping an eye on Kane and Diyoza across the restaurant.

“Why aren’t they talking?”  Clarke moaned as she moved her food around her plate.  Bellamy turned around in his seat and saw that their bosses were in the exact same position as they’d left them.

“I think they need a gentle nudge,” he said.  Clarke looked at him questioningly while he grabbed the attention of the waiter.

A few moments later, the waiter was carrying out a bottle of Diyoza’s favourite wine to her table with a note that claimed it was from Kane.  Bellamy and Clarke watched as she looked up from her laptop before smiling a wide smile.  She took the bottle form the waiter and slowly made her way over to where Kane was sat.  Kane looked up from his phone and nodded at something she said.

Bellamy’s jaw dropped open as Kane moved his things for Diyoza to sit down.

“Oh my god,” Clarke said, her food long forgotten.  Bellamy turned his attention back to her.  She was beaming and he couldn’t help but grin back.

“We did it!”  She jumped up from the table with a cheer.  Bellamy leaned across and pulled her back down.  She was going to blow their cover.

She shot him an apologetic look as she sat back down but her smile was still in place.

“We did it,” she repeated, quieter this time.

“Yeah, Princess,” Bellamy agreed.  A grin on his face too.  “We did.”

 

***

 

Clarke had never had so much free time before.  With Diyoza dating Kane, she was out of the office before sunset most nights, and she was in later than usual most mornings.  Clarke’s phone had never been so quiet and Diyoza had let her off for the rest of the afternoon off.  Clarke finally had her life back!

So she made the most of it; she went to lunches with her mother when she was in town, she helped Raven buy new things for when she moved in with Zeke, and she was finally free to help them pack up the apartment.

“This is so weird,” Clarke said as she looked around the stacks of boxes.  Raven’s entire life was packed up in cardboard and Clarke found herself tearing up.  Raven noticed and made her way over to her, putting the Sellotape down as she pulled her friend in for a hug.

“I’m fine,” Clarke said half-heartedly as Raven rubbed her back.

“You know I’m gonna be here all the time when Zeke’s snoring drives me up the wall,” Raven tried with a small smile.  Clarke sniffled a laugh.

“It’s just going to be weird to get used to, I suppose,” Clarke replied, giving her best friend a squeeze.  Raven gave her a sympathetic smile and Clarke nodded to tell her she was okay.

Raven dropped her arms from around her and Clarke’s phone buzzed.

“If that’s Diyoza you can tell her I told her to suck it,” Raven said over her shoulder as she packed up more boxes.  Clarke laughed as she took her phone out of her pocket.

She was expecting it to be Diyoza, or perhaps her mother.  It was neither, it was a text message from a girl she’d been chatting with all week.

Clarke read the message again and a grin broke across her face.

“I’ve got a date!”  She announced excitedly.

Raven turned to face her with a grin.  Raven knew how difficult Clarke’s work schedule could be, she knew it was a big thing for Clarke to even admit she _might_ be able to go.  She came to wrap her arms around Clarke and the two girls jumped around the living room cheering.

“I think we should get pizza to celebrate,” Raven said after they’d broke apart.  Clarke looked over to see Raven holding her bad leg.

“You okay?”  She asked, concern in her voice and on her face.

“Yeah,” Raven said, waving her off.  “We probably shouldn’t do that again, though.”

Clarke continued to look at her worried, until Raven stood up and looped her arm through hers, leading her towards their tiny kitchen.

 

***

 

Bellamy was so happy.  He actually made it out of the office before dark, and his phone wasn’t buzzing ten times a minute with texts from Kane.  And to think, all this came from setting Kane up with Diyoza.  Bellamy suppressed a smile as he continued to cut up the vegetables for the stir fry he was cooking for when Echo came over.

“Hey man,” said Miller as he came into the kitchen.

“Hey,” replied Bellamy, looking over his shoulder as Miller came into the kitchen.

Bellamy’s roommate Miller was a quiet guy that kept to himself mostly.  They’d lived together for well over five years.  At first, Miller had been closed off, but then again Bellamy had too.  Now, Miller was his best friend.  Bellamy smiled at him as he walked over to the fridge.

“What are you doing home?”  Miller asked, popping his head out of the fridge to give him a concerned look.  “Did you get fired?”

“No,” replied Bellamy with a smug smile.  “I got off early.”

Miller shrugged and didn’t press it further.

“So, what’s the plan for tonight?”  Miller asked.  It wasn’t very often that Bellamy got time off so they usually made an effort to watch a football game together, bit not tonight.

“Echo’s coming round,” Bellamy said avoiding Miller’s eye.  Suddenly, the carrot he was trying to slice was very interesting.  Bellamy knew Miller wasn’t keen on Bellamy’s girlfriend, he wasn’t sure why, and he never asked.

The fridge door closed and Bellamy looked up to see Miller standing against the counter with his arms folded.  Bellamy looked back down, suddenly feeling under scrutiny.

“You know you don’t actually know her, right?”  He asked.

Bellamy snapped his head up and gave his friend an incredulous look.

“What?”  He asked, carrots long forgotten.  A hint of a smile was on Bellamy’s face, of course he knew his own girlfriend.  They’d been dating for almost six months, of course he knew her.

Miller’s face remained stoic and he raised his eyebrow at Bellamy.

“Do you, though?”  He asked and Bellamy rolled his eyes.

“Yes!  She’d a model, she’s originally from, Canada, she doesn’t like gluten.  Of course, I know my own girlfriend.”  Bellamy shook his head at Miller.  He gave him a dubious look and Miller raised an eyebrow at him.

Miller shrugged and pushed off from the counter.  Bellamy got back to preparing dinner.  Of course he knew his girlfriend.  Sure, they didn’t see each other for weeks on end, but they both had very busy schedules, and he knew all the important stuff anyway.

 

 

***

 

Things were going great for Clarke.  Her job was getting easier and easier with every passing day.  Diyoza was out of the office more and more and she was letting Clarke take any hours she wanted.  Clarke had time to see her friends and family.  She’d also taken up her art again.  When Clarke was in university she’d taken a few art classes but had never got chance to use any of them because she was busy with work.  Now, she had so much more free time, she was able to practice more and she was loving it.  Plus, she had time to meet up with Lexa.

Lexa was a politics student at Columbia University.  She enjoyed weird foreign films with subtitles and was part of a martial arts club.  She was also strikingly beautiful in the kind of way Clarke had never really seen before.  She was all sharp angles and rough edges, but Clarke saw the cracks in the façade she put up.  Most of all, Lexa was fun.  Clarke enjoyed spending time with her, and she liked dating her, and now due to her masses of free time she actually had the time to date.  She was loving it.

 

“So, I slept with Lexa last night,” Clarke announced as she sat down on the desk across from Bellamy.

His head snapped up at her and his eyes widened.

“Hello to you too, Clarke,” he replied dryly.  She rolled her eyes.

“This is a big deal for me, okay?”  She said messing about with the pends on his desk.  She looked up and saw him nod.

“Is there a reason you’re here, or are we just discussing our sex lives now?”  He teased.  She let out a laugh.

Her and Bellamy had been spending more and more time together since they set their bosses up.  She couldn’t say she hated it.  She enjoyed his company, he made her laugh and he was intelligent and kind.  He was nothing like she thought he was when they met.  Pushing Kane and Diyoza together had brought them closer, and she’d now consider him a friend.

He was looking at her expectantly and she snapped her attention back to the matter at hand.

“Oh,” she said, sitting up.  “We need to make sure Diyoza and Kane are out of town next weekend.  It’s Raven’s moving in party and I _have_ to be there.”

Bellamy looked up from his work and nodded in agreement.

“That works for me,” he concurred.  “Echo has this publicity party and she said I need to be there.  What were you thinking?”

Clarke launched into her plan; there was a wine festival in Provence in France that Diyoza would love.  Yes, maybe a trip to Europe was extravagant, but Diyoza would love it and there were so many cool bookshops that Kane would love.

“Wow,” Bellamy said as he looked over at her laptop.  “You’ve really thought this through, huh?”

Of course she had.  Clarke shot him a toothy grin, and he rolled his eyes in response, biting his lip to contain his smile.

“I need you to make Kane think it was his idea,” Clarke told him, taking her laptop back from him.

“Okay,” Bellamy agreed.  He turned back to his own laptop and Clarke stood to leave.

“Well, I better go.  I’ve got a date with Lexa.”  She shot a smile at Bellamy but he was focused on his laptop screen.  She frowned slightly.

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” he mumbled as he searched through papers at his desk.

“Aren’t you going home?”  She asked.  “Kane left hours ago.”

Bellamy pursed his lips and shook his head, looking up at her briefly.

“I’ve got about a hundred files to sort,” he sighed, opening his draws and rooting through them.

Clarke turned her head and saw that the rest of the office was empty.  Bellamy was here on his own with over one hundred files to sort.  She considered leaving him to it, but he was her friend and he’d do the same for her.

She sighed as she cast a longing look at the exit.  Bellamy needed help and she wasn’t about to leave him.  She sat back down at her desk and took her laptop out.

“What are you doing?”  Bellamy asked, looking over at her suspiciously. 

“I’m helping you,” Clarke replied, not looking up from her laptop as she logged back in to the office system.

“Why?”  He asked.  She looked up and gave him a small smile.

“Because we’re friends,” she said with a small shrug.

“What about Lexa?”  He questioned and she seemed to consider this.

“She won’t mind if we rearrange.”

 

***

 

Bellamy enjoyed spending time with Clarke; she told it like it was and didn’t put up with his bullshit like his other colleagues.  She was fun to be around, and made being at work fun (somehow).  He found himself looking forward to walking to the office, a feeling he hadn’t had in all the time he’d worked for Kane.  It was nice to have work friends, but Clarke was more than just a work friend, she was one of his closest friends now.  He liked seeing her smile, and he loved hearing her laugh.  Somehow after just a few weeks of knowing her, she’d wormed her way into his heart. 

Clarke told him how she was working on her art again and he thought it was great she was taking it up again.  She’d started sending him snapchats of things she was working on, and occasionally she’d draw him a little doodle.  Her most recent one was of them relaxing while doodle Kane and Diyoza were kissing nearby.

It helped that they worked well together.  They were used to being in each other’s spaces due to the extended amounts of time they’d spent together over the previous weeks.  Clarke knew what Bellamy was going to ask for before he’d even finished his sentence, and he knew which file to send over to her before she could even open her mouth to ask.

He shot her a knowing smile as she took out her phone as if he’d read her mind – _takeout_.  She grinned back and he felt his heart tighten a little; he’d never get tired of that smile.

 

***

 

When their food order arrived, Clarke was more than ready to take a break.  Kane’s files were in disarray because of some mailroom intern and it had taken them two hours to work through half the files.

She quickly made her way back to Bellamy’s desk with the food.  When she reached the desk, she saw he’d cleared room for the food and she shot him a grateful smile.

“They were out of prawn crackers,” she said with a pout as she sat down again.

“Prawn crackers a disgusting, Clarke,” he said in mock offence.  She stuck her tongue out but shot him a grateful smile when he handed over the container with her food in it.

 

They talked as they ate.  Clarke learnt that Bellamy’s hate for prawn crackers had started when he worked in a Chinese takeout as a teenager and had never really stopped.  Clarke told him about the time Raven had accidentally ordered ten lots of Thai green curry when she was drunk.  They’d had curry for every meal for over a week, and now she couldn’t think of it without retching.  Then there was the time –

Clarke’s phone started ringing.  She looked down and saw it was her mother.  She pressed ignore.

“Sorry, that was just my mom,” she said to Bellamy.  He waved her off and swallowed his mouthful of food.

“You could have just answered it,” he said, taking a sip of his drink.

Clarke shook her head.  “So I could hear about another guy she wants to set me up with?  No thanks.”

She moved her food around her container, trying to pick up a piece of chicken.  Bellamy was giving her a questioning look.

Clarke sighed.  “She only ever calls to talk about the latest guy she met at the country club that would be _oh so perfect_ for me.”  She looked down again.

“Have you told her about Lexa?”  Bellamy said apprehensively.

“Yeah,” Clarke replied, not looking up.  The chicken just wouldn’t get on her fork.  “She’s happy for me, but she just doesn’t think it will last.  My job doesn’t really allow for a dating life.  Or any other kind of life.”

She looked up at him with a sad smile and his eyes softened.

“It’ll all be worth it in the end, though?”  He asked.  “Like when you’re a top politician you can do stuff then.”

Clarke considered this.  “I don’t know.  I just can’t see myself as a politician.”

Bellamy stared at her like she’d grown two heads.  “Clarke, you _do_ realise what job you do, right?”

“Yeah,” she replied with a soft laugh.  “But I never actually wanted to work for Diyoza, my mom got me the job.  No one loves the job they do, anyway.”

She turned back to her food and things were quiet for a moment.

“I do,” Bellamy admitted quietly.  Clarke looked over at him and saw he was concentrating on his food.

He looked up at her.

“Okay, I hate being Kane’s assistant,” he licked his lips and Clarke looked away.  “But I love working for his company.  I’ve wanted to be a writer since I was a kid and I’d love to write a book one day.”

“Why don’t you?”  Clarke whispered.  He huffed a laugh. 

“What if it was shit?”  He asked and her face softened.

“It won’t be,” she said as she reached across to squeeze his hand.  “I know it’ll be good.”

He ducked his head and she removed her hand.

“Thanks, Clarke.”  His voice was sincere and Clarke found herself blushing.

 

***

 

Clarke didn’t ask how he did it, but Bellamy had convinced Kane that the trip to Provence was his idea and him and Diyoza had both taken the weekend off.  Diyoza had chattered excitedly as she told Clarke her plans for the weekend away, and Clarke had smiled and nodded along as if she hadn’t read the online brochure at least six times.  When Diyoza had walked out of the office with her designer suitcase trailing behind her Clarke had jumped up and started her happy dance. 

 

She had the entire weekend free, and she could go to Raven and Zeke’s moving in party.  First though, she needed to give Kane’s credit card to Bellamy.

Clarke had never been to the part of town where Bellamy lived.  She knew he took the same line on the subway as her, but she always got off before him so she’d never seen where he lived.  To put it nicely, Bellamy’s neighbourhood had what a real estate agent would describe as _character_.  He lived in a dump.  The people seemed nice enough, and the buildings were old, but there was an overwhelming smell of urine coming from the grates on the sidewalk, and most of the stores were closed – whether that was for the day or forever, Clarke couldn’t tell.

Clarke had to wonder how much Kane was paying him, if his personal assistant was living in such an undesirable area.  But she decided not to press it, it wasn’t her business.  The building Bellamy lived in didn’t have an elevator, and so Clarke had to climb all seven flights to get to his apartment.  The light above his doorway was flickering, casting weird, yellow shadows across the small entryway every few seconds.

Bellamy opened the door after her third knock and she subconsciously smiled as she took in his appearance.  He was dressed more relaxed than she’d ever seen him in a button-down shirt and black jeans, and he wasn’t wearing his contacts.  Clarke found the entire ensemble endearing and she couldn’t help but smile.  Even in this awful fluorescent lighting she could just make out his freckles.  It wasn’t fair that he was allowed to look this hot all the time.

She stopped herself, where did that thought come from?

“Clarke?”  Bellamy asked expectantly.  He was stepped aside to let her in to his apartment, completely oblivious to Clarke’s thought process.

She smiled and followed him inside the apartment.  Bellamy’s home was a lot nicer on the inside than the outside.  Clarke was led into his cramped living area and she was shocked to see just how many book Bellamy owned.  She could hear music coming from the kitchen and heard Bellamy’s roommate shout something incoherent from the kitchen.  Bellamy shot her an apologetic smile and he ducked into the kitchen.

Clarke looked around the room; this wasn’t what she had expected from Bellamy at all.  It felt comfortable and homely.  She spotted a few family pictures on

Bellamy returned from the kitchen with another man trailing behind him. 

“This is Miller,” Bellamy explained.  Miller threw her a wave and she smiled back.

“Do you want a beer?”  Miller asked, gesturing behind him.

“Oh no,” Clarke replied, reaching into her bag.  “I just came to bring this back.”

She took out her purse and handed the credit card over to Bellamy.  He nodded in thanks and slipped it into his wallet.

“Why are you so dressed up?”  Bellamy asked and Clarke looked down at herself.

“It’s Raven’s moving in party tonight,” she explained with a proud smile.  She smoothed the skirt down on her dress.

“What are you doing this afternoon?”  Miller asked and Bellamy shot him a quizzical look.

“Nothing…” Clarke replied looking between the two men.  Bellamy turned away towards the kitchen.

“You should come to this party with us,” Miller said with an easy smile.  Clarke couldn’t see Bellamy’s expression from where she was standing but she saw Miller roll his eyes at his roommate.

“It’s fine,” Clarke declined, shaking her head.  “I’ve got a date with my laptop so…”

She was deflecting and she knew it.  Miller raised his eyebrow at her and Bellamy turned to face her.  He narrowed his eyes at her and she squirmed under his gaze. 

“What about Lexa?”  He asked, trying to sound casual.  She gave him a small smile.

“She hasn’t called me back,” she admitted, looking away. 

Miller came over and clapped her on the back lightly.

“Well, now you have to come with us.”

She shot him a smile and he turned to Bellamy with a grin. 

Bellamy rolled his eyes at the two of them.

“Fine, but if it’s guest-list only, I’m not feeling bad.”

 

***

 

As they stepped into the large apartment, Clarke suddenly felt unsure of herself.  Around the entrance she spotted tall, gorgeous women with straight brown hair.  They all wore short crop tops, showing off their tanned bodies.  Clarke had never been one to feel self-conscious around other women, but she’d never been in a room full of models before. 

“Come on,” said Bellamy at her side.  He placed a hand on the small of her back and steered her towards the kitchen area.  She let him lead her to the drinks table and she shot him a grateful smile as he handed her a drink.

Clarke looked around the apartment; it was much bigger than hers, with high ceilings that made the room feel open and airy.  Everyone was stood mingling in the open-plan space, there were hardly any chairs and the ones Clarke could see looked uncomfortable anyway.  She was reminded of Diyoza’s office.

Miller came to stand beside her and she passed him a cup.  He nodded in thanks.

“Incoming,” Miller muttered and Clarke frowned.

Another tall woman with striking features made her way across the room.  She ran a hand through her straight brown hair and Clarke was struck with how beautiful she was.

Before Clarke could ask who she was, she was wrapping her arms around Bellamy, who was talking to both her and Miller.  When she embraced him, he stopped midsentence and his face grew into a smile.  He turned in her arms and pressed a quick kiss to her lips.  Clarke looked away and met Miller’s gaze.  He nodded his head towards the couple and rolled his eyes.  Clarke snorted into her drink.

Bellamy turned back around to face them.  Clarke schooled her features.

“Echo,” he said turning to his girlfriend.  “This is Clarke from work, and you know Miller.”

Echo smiled at Clarke but it didn’t reach her eyes.  Clarke smiled back, not sure if she was faking it or not. 

From what Clarke understood, Bellamy’s girlfriend – Echo – worked for a modelling company.  Bellamy had failed to mention that she was an _actual_ model.  Apparently, that meant she had to do some networking at the party.  She pressed a quick kiss to Bellamy’s cheek and then she was gone.  Bellamy watched her walk away and Clarke wasn’t sure how to react.

“Who’s up for beer-pong?”  Miller asked with a smile.  Clarke was thankful he knew how to break the tension.

“I hope you’re ready to lose,” Bellamy replied, bringing his attention back to them.  Clarke rolled her eyes and Miller flipped the bird at him.  The three of them made their way towards the beer-pong table, laughing.

 

They spent the rest of the afternoon drinking and playing games.  Clarke forgot to be self-conscious around all the people who looked good for a living, and she focussed on thrashing the boys at whatever drinking game they were playing.  As the afternoon went on, Miller got more and more tipsy and came out of his shell.  Clarke found herself laughing at his jokes and joining in on his light teasing of Bellamy.  She liked Miller, he brought out another side to Bellamy that she didn’t see when they were at work. 

She was having a good time, and she hadn’t even thought about the fact that Lexa hadn’t called or texted all day.

That was, until her phone buzzed.

“One minute,” she told them, holding up a finger.  Miller and Bellamy groaned dramatically, it was her turn to throw the ball.

She whipped her phone out and typed in her passcode.

“If it’s your mom again let me reply,” Bellamy said jokingly and Clarke smiled a little.

“It’s Lexa,” she said, not looking up from her phone.  She read the message again.

 

 __ **Lexa**  
_Don’t think I can make it tonight._  
As you can understand, my career comes first  
and I don’t have time to continue seeing you.  
I wish you all the best.

She slid her phone back into her pocket.

“You okay?”  Bellamy asked, concern evident on his face.

“Yeah,” she replied quickly.  She forced herself to smile and picked up the ping-pong ball again.  “I hope you’re ready to lose.”

Bellamy opened his mouth as if to say something.  She raised her eyebrow, challenging him to ask her again.  He closed his mouth and nodded at her.

She threw the ping-pong ball.

 

***

 

Bellamy didn’t ask what Lexa had said, but Clarke became even more determined to get drunk after she put her phone away.  Bellamy kept throwing her concerned looks, but she waved him off.  He didn’t want to ask if she didn’t want to tell him.  They were friends, but he didn’t want to pry.

When she announced she was leaving to Raven’s party he’d had enough.

“What did Lexa say?”  He asked.  Clarke’s eyes widened and he raised his eyebrows expectantly.

Clarke sighed.  “She’s not meeting me at Raven’s.”

Bellamy’s browns scrunched up.  Clarke had seemed pretty into Lexa, and he knew this relationship was a big thing for her.  He’d assumed Lexa had felt the same.

“I’m coming with you,” he said suddenly, surprising himself.  Miller raised his eyebrows and raised his cup to his mouth.  Bellamy ignored him.

“What about Echo?”  She asked, turning to look at his girlfriend.  He followed her gaze and saw she engrossed in a conversation with some agent.  Echo hadn’t made an effort to speak to any of them all night.  He felt his heart sink a little when he realised she probably wouldn’t even miss him if he left with Clarke.

“She’ll understand,” he replied, turning his attention back to Clarke.

Clarke narrowed her eyes at him and he shrugged.  He couldn’t let her go on her own, she’d probably drink too much and end up in some gutter somewhere.  She thought it over and after a moment, decided it was a good idea.

“Okay,” she said with the first genuine smile he’s seen all evening.

“Okay,” he replied with a smile of his own.

 

Clarke talked to him about Raven all the way to their apartment.  He found himself smiling as she recounted stories of their college days.  He found it endearing how much she loved her best friend.  When they arrived at the apartment building, she headed off towards the stairs.  She explained that Raven had been in space camp in high school, but had injured her leg in one of the training exercises.  Zeke’s apartment was on the second floor and so Raven wouldn’t have to climb that many steps.

“So that’s why Zeke’s apartment is better than mine,” she said, flashing him a grin.

“Sure,” he replied with a smirk.  “It has nothing to do with the fact he’s her boyfriend?”

“Logistics,” she replied, waving him off.

 

The party was in full swing by the time they got there.  Bellamy heard music playing from different rooms in the apartment.  He stood in the entryway, unsure of where to go.  Clarke grabbed his arm and tugged him along behind her.  Before he could ask where they were going, she led them into a small kitchen and let go of him. 

He watched with an amused smile as she wrapped her arms around who he assumed was Raven.  Clarke laughed as she squeezed the other woman and Bellamy’s heart melted at seeing Clarke so happy.

“Sorry we’re late,” Clarke said as she let her friend go.  “Raven, this is Bellamy.  Bellamy, this is my best friend Raven.”

Bellamy shot her a wave and Raven smiled back. 

“Hey man,” came a voice to his left.  Bellamy turned to see a guy talking to him.

“Bellamy, this is Raven’s boyfriend, Zeke.  Zeke, this is my friend Bellamy.”  Clarke introduced.

Bellamy nodded at Zeke and he nodded back.  He felt a smile grown on his lips at Clarke’s easy introduction of him as her friend.  Zeke raised an eyebrow at him, but Bellamy ignored his questioning gaze.

“Beer?”  Zeke asked, deciding to drop whatever question he was going to ask.  Bellamy smiled and nodded.

 

Bellamy found himself relaxing in the presence of Clarke’s friends.  In Raven’s presence, Clarke seemed more relaxed and outgoing.  He found himself laughing along wat their stories and joining in on their jokes.  Where Echo’s friends were all serious and cold, Clarke’s were boisterous and welcoming.  The music was playing loud, the beers were cold, and more than anything Bellamy was having a good time. 

He found himself watching Clarke as she danced around the small living room with Clarke and he couldn’t help but smile as he heard her laugh out loud.  He couldn’t remember the last time he’d had this much fun.

“So, you and Clarke?”  Zeke asked from next to him.  Bellamy turned to face him, but Zeke continued watching Raven and Clarke.  Bellamy turned his attention back to them.

“It’s not like that,” he looked down at his beer bottle, the label was coming off slightly.  He started to pick at it.  “We work together.”

He looked over to see Zeke considering him.  Zeke’s face broke into a grin and he chuckled. 

“It’s cool, man,” he said clapping him on the back.  “I was just messing.”

Zeke made his way to the middle of the room and Bellamy frowned down at his bottle.

“Hey.” Clarke sounded breathless as she came to stand next to him.  Her face was tinted pink from dancing and he hair looked wilder than he had ever seen.  She looked disarrayed, but she looked happy.  His fingers itched to tuck a stray lock behind her ear so it was off her face.  He held his bottle tighter.

“Hey,” he replied with an easy smile.

“I love Raven, but wow I need food,” she said as she leant against the wall next to him.  He looked over at the table where the chip and dips had been to see it was completely empty.  His stomach growled in response.

“Your wish is my command, Princess,” he replied. Putting his bottle down on the table.

They said their goodbyes to Raven and Zeke.  Raven surprised him by pulling him in for a tight hug.  Clarke shot him a wink over Raven’s shoulder and he returned the hug somewhat awkwardly.  When they broke apart Zeke shook his hand and gave him a knowing smile.  Bellamy pretended to ignore it and followed Clarke out of the apartment.

 

***

 

Clarke didn’t realise how drunk she was until she stepped out into the humid, summer air.  Even though she’d lived in New York for several years, the warm summer evenings still surprised her.  Thankfully, her sober self had planned ahead when she’d put on her dress to keep her cool and her flats to stop her feet from hurting.  Sober Clarke was great.

“She is,” she heard Bellamy chuckle beside her.  She hadn’t realised she’d said any of that aloud and now she was embarrassed. 

She looked over at Bellamy; his hair was curlier in the humidity and his face was a warmer tone from the alcohol.  In the warm street lighting, his eyes seemed to shine and Clarke felt her heart swell.  She wished she could take out a pencil and draw how he looked.  She shook her head to clear her thoughts.

“Come on, Bell,” she said, trying out the new nickname.  If he was allowed to call her Princess, then she was retaliating.  He looked taken aback for a moment but then moved back into action, falling into step with her as they walked down the street.

 

There weren’t many takeout’s open in Raven’s neighbourhood late at night.  Bellamy said he knew a place and two subway stops later, they were stood at the counter ordering.  Clarke could hardly contain her excitement for pizza and she was pretty sure she’d drooled at one point.  If Bellamy saw her, he didn’t comment. 

When the pizza arrived, Clarke was ready to rip the box open and eat it right there, but the chef looked tired.  She shot him a sympathetic smile, and they started to move towards the door.  They called out thanks as they left and then she was walking down the street with Bellamy as he carried the pizza box.

“Where are we going?”  Clarke asked as Bellamy continued to walk down the street with purpose.

“There’s a place I want to show you,” he replied.  She shrugged and continued to follow him.

 

He took a turn off the street, and Clarke followed him.  She opened her mouth to ask him where they were, but her words died in her mouth as she took in the sight in front of her.

Bellamy had led her to a small secluded park.  It was only a few square yards of grass, with a tree in the middle.  There was a wooden bench off to the side.  But that wasn’t what took Clarke’s breath away, it was the fairy lights that were wound around the iron gates and up the tree.  They flickered and danced.  Clarke was reminded of fireflies swarming around in the night.  She itched to draw the scene in front of her.  She turned to Bellamy to see him smirking at her.  He made his way over to the bench and she followed him.

“This is beautiful,” she said as he opened the pizza box.  He made a sound of agreement, but Clarke’s attention was on the steaming pizza in front of her.

The smell of cooked peppers and onions wafted up from the box and Clarke felt her mouth water.  The scene in front of her could wait, she needed to eat food.

She thanked him as he handed a piece over to her and they ate it in silence.

“This is the best night ever,” Clarke said around food.  Bellamy looked over at her with laughter in his eyes and she swallowed her food.

“No, seriously,” she continued.  “I’ve had a lot of fun.”

“Me too,” he admitted, giving her a small smile.  She shot one back before taking another bite.

 “So, writing, huh?”  She asked, turning to face him.

He leant his head back and stared up at the tree above them.  Clarke suddenly felt like she’d prodded a very sore topic for him.  She took a breath, ready to apologise when he started talking.

“I didn’t have much growing up,” he said, still looking up at the lights blinking in the tree.  “My dad left before I was born, and my mom was always out.  It was just me and my sister most days.”

Clarke looked down at her hands in her lap.  Bellamy didn’t often talk about his family, she felt like she was being let in on a big secret and she wasn’t sure what to do with herself as he spoke.

He didn’t seem to sense her inner turmoil.  “When she was younger, she wanted me to tell her stories before bed.  I was a ten-year-old boy, so I would only tell her stories I thought were cool.”  He huffed a laugh and she looked over at him.  A smile was playing at his lips.

“So I told her all the cool mythology stories I knew, and she loved them.  I used to change the stories a bit so they were less sad.  After our mom died, I became her legal guardian and I had to get a job, so I started working for Kane.”  She smiled to herself, of course Bellamy was a huge history nerd.  She should have seen it coming really, he did name his own sister Octavia after all.  When she looked back over at him he was looking over at her with sad eyes.

“I don’t know,” he said, looking away.  “I guess I thought I could write something about the mythology stories I used to read to her.”  He swallowed thickly.  Clarke wanted to reach out and touch him, to say _you can do it_ , but she kept her arms at her side.

“She left college two years ago and I’ve still not done anything.”  He shrugged and looked down at the pizza slice in his hand.  “Maybe I’m just not meant to be a writer.”

“Bellamy,” Clarke whispered before she could stop herself.  He looked over at her and she felt her heart break a little.  Bellamy was one of the hardest working guys she knew, he’d paid his sister through college, he was ridiculously talented, and he couldn’t even see it.

“Bell, it’s okay to be scared,” she told him.  He took a deep breath and she held his gaze, refusing to back down. 

“But what if it’s terrible?”  He asked and she let out a small laugh.

“Your first draft probably will be,” she teased with a smile.  “But that’s why you edit it.”

He laughed at her then, his worry evaporating.  She smiled back and they continued to eat their pizza as it went cold.  Clarke sat back on the bench, her shoulder pressed against Bellamy’s arm.  She watched as the lights twinkled in the low light.  The sky was peeking through the gaps in the trees casting everything in an orange and purple mix.  She turned to Bellamy to comment on how pretty everything looked. 

His phone started to ring and he rooted through his pocket to answer it.  He took it out and looked at the caller ID.  Clarke didn’t mean to look over, but she saw a picture of Echo flash up.

“Don’t answer it,” she said before she could stop herself.  He looked over at her and she shrugged.  He declined the call and sat back.

She tried to justify that she didn’t want to ruin the atmosphere with Bellamy talking on the phone, but it was more than that.  He was her friend, and she knew Echo wasn’t good for him.

“Why are you even dating her?”  She asked.  Bellamy coughed as he ate his pizza.  She shot him an apologetic look, but she held his gaze.  He swallowed his pizza.

“Have you seen her?”  He joked.  Clarke shot him a look and he looked away.  He stayed quiet, apparently not having a serious answer to her question.

“She doesn’t deserve you,” Clarke whispered.

“Clarke?”  He asked, looking back up at her.  His eyes bored into hers and Clarke’s breath caught.

“You’re too good for her, Bellamy.”  He took a deep breath.  Clarke wasn’t sure where this had all come from, but she felt like he needed to know. 

He continued to hold her gaze.  He looked over at her like he was only just seeing her.  Clarke refused to drop his gaze.  His hand came up and he took a strand of her hair between his fingers.  He tucked it behind her ear and dropped his hand away.  His gaze fell down to the bench they were sat on.

Clarke cleared her throat.  Suddenly, everything came crashing around her.  Bellamy had a girlfriend, a girlfriend who had just called him.  She had to leave before she did something stupid.

“I should go,” she said.  Bellamy’s eyes snapped back up to hers, but any heat that was there before was gone.  _Good_ , she thought, her resolve wasn’t that strong.

“You want a slice for the road?”  He asked and she have him a half smile.

“Two please,” she asked, dusting crumbs off her dress skirt as she stood.  He handed her the two slices, rolled up just the way she liked.  She thanked him as she took them.

She reached the edge of the small park and turned back to look at him.  He was looking over at her.  The lighting was making his curls fall around his face like a halo.  She waved weakly at him and he smiled back.  She turned and left him to the rest of the pizza.

 

***

 

The next morning found Bellamy hungover for the first time in a long time.  The office was bustling when he got in.  He placed his messenger bag down at his desk and made his way into Kane’s office, ready to prepare him for all his meetings.  When Bellamy stepped into the office, he found it empty.

Kane’s laptop was there and his coat was hanging over the back of the chair, but Kane wasn’t present.  Frowning, Bellamy made his way back over to his desk.  As he was about to sit down he noticed a note on his desk.

 

_Bellamy,_

_Come up to Diyoza’s office._

_\- C_

 

The note had one of Clarke’s signature doodles on it.  This time, it was a cartoon version of him dressed as a Roman gladiator.  He smiled to himself and pocketed it as he made his way towards the elevator.  As the elevator slowly made its climb up, Bellamy found himself thinking over the previous evening.  He’d had a really good night, one of the best he’d had in a while.  He found that he liked spending time with Clarke more and more. 

Bringing her to the small park had been an accident, but he thought she’d enjoy it and he was glad she did.  The park was one that he’d taken Octavia to when they needed to get out of the house when they were younger.  He’d tried to take Echo there once, but she’d complained that there was no cell signal so he hadn’t tried again.  After Clarke left, he’d stayed up a while thinking about everything they’d talked about, and what she’d said.  Echo hadn’t called again and he’d decided to fall straight into bed when he got home.  In the morning, Bellamy saw Miller was a little worse for wear too.  To his cred, Miller didn’t ask why he was out so late and just slid a coffee over to him.

Bellamy didn’t spend a lot of time in Dioyza’s office.  When he and Clarke were planning dates and parties for Kane and Diyoza, it was always from his desk.  It wasn’t that he disliked Diyoza, it was just that his office was comfortable.  Diyoza’s office felt sterile and somewhat clinical.  His desk was stacked high with books, and his desk chair was comfy after years of sitting in it every day.  He liked Kane’s office, it was like a home from home.

Diyoza’s office was significantly quieter than Kane’s.  Bellamy didn’t keep up with the intricacies of politics, but Clarke talked about Diyoza enough for him to know things weren’t too busy for her yet, but that they would pick up quickly again soon.

Bellamy made his way over to where Clarke’s desk was.  She was facing away from him, typing away at her laptop.  Her hair was up in a messy bun, a clear sign that she hadn’t had time to style it this morning.  He smirked to himself, glad he wasn’t the only one feeling a little worse for wear this morning.

“Hey, Princess” he said, leaning over her desk.  She jumped as if she hadn’t been expecting him and threw him a dirty look as he chuckled.

“Hey,” she grumbled back, turning her attention back to her laptop.

“So, you wanted to see me?”  Bellamy asked.  Clarke turned to face him with a confused look.

“Oh, shit yeah.  I-”

She was cut off by Diyoza.  “You two in my office now.”

Bellamy glanced at Clarke questioningly, but she just shrugged in response.  He followed her into the office and closed the door behind him.  Kane was stood behind the desk and he nodded at Bellamy as he walked in.  Diyoza sat at her desk and reached for Kane’s hand.  Bellamy glanced at Clarke briefly.  They shared a look of _what the fuck?_ before returning their attention back to Kane and Diyoza.

“Ah, good,” Kane said as he looked at them.  “You’re both here.”

He moved his hand to Diyoza’s shoulder and she smiled up at him.  Bellamy wasn’t sure what to expect; he ran a list of possibilities through his head.  Before he could decide on one Diyoza spoke up.

“We’re getting married!”  She announced excitedly.  Bellamy stood in shock, unsure of what to say.  That hadn’t been on his possibilities list.

“Wow, congratulations!”  Clarke said beside him, clearly less shocked by this news.  He cleared his throat and nodded.

“You two both do such a good job of organising our schedules,” Diyoza continued.  “We wanted you to plan the wedding for us.”

Bellamy’s eyes widened slightly.  He’d never even been to a wedding, planning one was a big task as far as he understood.  Clarke looked over to him and he shot her a panicked look.  She gave him a sympathetic look before turning back to their bosses with an easy smile.

“Sure,” she said.  Bellamy could tell she was tense, but if Diyoza and Kane could, they didn’t let on.  “When were you thinking?”

“Well,” Diyoza started, shifting forward to look at her laptop screen.  “We’re both quite busy later in the year, so we wanted to get married by this time next month.”

“Okay,” Clarke said.  This time, Bellamy saw panic flash in her eyes as she looked over at him.  She quickly left the room and he was stood staring after her.  She returned quickly with a pad and paper to write down what Diyoza was saying.

“Since you’ll be busy with planning, I’m getting Harper in to help more with your other duties,” Diyoza told her.  Clarke scribbled it down.

“We’ll meet at lunch to discuss everything in more detail,” Kane said, before leaning down to press a kiss to Diyoza’s cheek.

“Are you two still here?”  Diyoza snapped.

Bellamy snapped into action and him and Clarke scurried from the room, closing the door behind them quickly.

“Oh my God,” Clarke said as soon as they were out of earshot.  She turned towards him, her whole face lighting up as she beamed up at him.

Before he could stop himself, he pulled her towards him for a hug.  She instantly returned the hug, the two of them laughing together.  Somehow, they’d made two people fall in love, and it was amazing.  Bellamy pulled her closer, the smell of her shampoo filling his senses.  He huffed a laugh and he felt her squeeze her arms around his middle. 

“Bellamy,” Kane called as he stepped out of Diyoza’s office.  Bellamy and Clarke broke apart.  Bellamy cleared his throat and he saw a blush climb up Clarke’s cheeks.  He looked over to see Kane coming towards them.

“We’ve got a lot to sort out,” Kane said.  He shot Clarke a nod and took off down the corridor.

“I’ll see you at lunch,” Bellamy said as he turned back to Clarke.  She gave him a nod and a small smile.  His heart fluttered a little as he followed after Kane.  Before he left the office, he turned to see her smiling at her laptop screen.  As if sensing his gaze, she looked up and he grinned at her before turning away.

 

***

 

Planning a wedding was stressful.  Clarke had attended multiple weddings when she was younger; her parents had been in the kinds of social circles that got them a lot of invites to functions, and they often took Clarke with them.  Maybe Clarke should have paid more attention to the functions, that might have helped her plan a wedding in less than a month.  Clarke didn’t have any friends that were married, or even thinking about getting married either.  Diyoza had been little help, just saying she trusted Clarke to see it through.  Clarke had never felt so lost before. 

She groaned as she scrolled through her phone again.  She was sat in a café scrolling through wedding planners’ Instagram feeds for inspiration.  So far, she’d decided that they needed to book a good photographer, but Clarke didn’t even know where to start with dresses or cakes.  She’d not even thought about venues yet.

Clarke looked down at her notebook, usually full of scribbles of notes for what she needed to do, she’d filled it with doodles of bouquets of flowers and cake ideas.  She wrote _buy new notebook_ at the bottom of her to-do list and got back to scrolling through her phone.

A chair squeaked next to her and she snapped her attention up at the sound.  Bellamy smiled at her as he sat down across from her. 

“Hey,” he said as he took his laptop out.

“Hey,” she replied.  He ran a hand through his hair causing it to look wilder than usual.  Affection swelled up inside her and she tried to squash it down.  He looked over the top of his laptop and caught her eye, she looked away before he could read her thoughts.

“I’ve found this cake designer that Diyoza likes,” Clarke announced, trying to keep herself focused on their task.  She looked up and Bellamy was nodding, typing things into his laptop.

She bit her lip.  “But she only meets with couples.”

Bellamy frowned and looked up at her.

“What are we going to do?”  He asked.

“We’re going to have to pretend to be engaged,” Clarke told him with an apologetic smile.

 

Diyoza, being the particular woman she was, had very specific tastes.  Tastes that Clarke had spent the better half of three years catering to.  Clarke had never actually seen Diyoza eat cake, but she was ninety percent sure that she was going to like the cake from the shop Clarke had found.

 _The Murph-in Man_ was a little out of the city, meaning Clarke and Bellamy had to take an extended lunch.  Diyoza and Kane didn’t seem to care, telling them to take as long as they needed.  When they arrived at the bakery, Clarke shared a worried look with Bellamy.

“How are we going to do this?”  Clarke asked him.  His tongue darted out to wet his lips and Clarke mentally scolded herself for letting her eyes follow the movement.

Bellamy didn’t seem to notice, thankfully.

“Just follow my lead,” he told her.  He stepped towards the shop and opened the door for her.

A bell rang as they stepped inside.

“Hi,” came a cheery voice from behind the counter.  “You must be Clarke.”

“Yes,” Clarke replied to the woman behind the counter that had greeted them.   She was around the same age as Clarke with long straight black hair.  She gave them both a welcoming smile.  Clarke reached to shake the woman’s hand and Bellamy did the same.  When they stepped away, he kept close to her.  She could feel the heat radiating from his body.  Clarke tried to make herself ignore it, but her body couldn’t help but react to Bellamy’s.  Gooseflesh broke out on her skin but luckily, she’d decided to wear long sleeves today so Bellamy wouldn’t see.

“I’ll go and get John,” the woman told them with a smile.

John Murphy was not what Clarke was expecting.  When Clarke had searched online for this place, she’d expected it to be owned by a guy in his mid-forties, but John Murphy was her age, if that.

“Nice to meet you,” he said as he shook their hands.  “Can I bring you through to the consultation room?”

Bellamy took Clarke’s hand as they walked through the bakery.  She gave him a surprised look, but he was looking ahead at Murphy as he led them through the shop.  Clarke tried not to think about how nice it was to hold Bellamy’s hand.  It was exactly how she’d imagined holding his hand would be, not that she’d imagined that often; just once or twice.

She cleared her throat as they sat down at the table Murphy gestured towards.  It wasn’t really a consultation room, more of an office with cake designs hung up.  Bellamy dropped her hand to pull her chair out for her, she smiled at him thankfully but was sad at the loss of contact.  She expected that to be it, but he took her hand again once he was sat down.

Murphy shot them a knowing smirk.

“So, do you have any preferences about the type of cake?”  He asked them as he took folders off the shelf.

“Uhh,” Clarke paused.  She had a list, but Bellamy was rubbing patterns with his thumb on her hand and she was distracted.  Murphy looked over at her expectantly.

“Fruit cake?”  She asked meekly, trying to rack her brain to think if Diyoza had ever said she hated fruit cake.

Murphy nodded and started to place pictures of designs in front of them.  Clarke leaned forward to get an idea of the designs.  They were beautiful.  Clarke especially liked the one with swirling patters that rose up through the different tiers.  She pointed this one out to Bellamy.

“Hmm, will Kane like it though?”  He asked and Clarke felt her cheeks flame.  Right, there were here for Diyoza and Kane.

She looked up to see Murphy looking at them with a quizzical look.

“Our families have a lot of say in the planning,” Clarke explained with a light laugh.  Murphy cracked a smile.

“We get that a lot,” he explained.  “But it’s your big day, so just choose what you want.”

Clarke smiled and looked back down at the designs.

 

After almost an hour of discussing cake, frosting, tiers, and designs they finally decided on one that would suit both Diyoza and Kane’s tastes.  The best part of the day was when they got to try different types of cake and frosting, but even that wore thin.  If Clarke ever had to see vanilla frosting again, she was going to throw up.  As they were getting ready to pay, they were served by the woman who greeted them.  She explained she was Murphy’s fiancée, and she was more than happy to talk to them about weddings.

“How long have you two been together?”  She asked as Murphy printed out their order details.

“Six months,” Clarke answered as Bellamy said “a year” at the same time.

Clarke shared a panicked look with Bellamy.

“We’ve been dating for a year,” Bellamy replied smoothly without missing a beat.  “But we’ve only been engaged for six months.”

Emori chuckled and started to type in the prices on the cash register.

“It just goes so quickly,” she mused.  She looked up and gave them a bright smile.  “That will be eight hundred dollars, please.”

Bellamy took out his wallet to get Kane’s card out, and once again Clarke was thankful it wasn’t her wedding she was planning.  Bellamy paid and Murphy came back with a folder of information, which he handed to Clarke.

“You two make a lovely couple,” Emori said as Murphy put his arm around her shoulders in a relaxed fashion.

Clarke tried to stop the blush crawling up her cheeks, but it was useless.  She refused to look at Bellamy.

“Thanks,” Bellamy said and she could hear the smile in his voice.  She looked over at him.

“You good?”  He asked her and she nodded.

They both thanked Murphy and Emori, and turned to exit the shop.  As they walked towards the door, Bellamy slung his arm around her shoulders as if it was the most natural thing in the world.  Clarke let herself lean into his side; they had to make sure they were convincing, after all.

 

***

 

Planning a wedding wasn’t easy, but having Bellamy by her side made things a thousand times easier.  He was better at haggling, and he made sure to bring her back down to Earth if she spent too long focussing on one aspect of something.  She’d spent nearly thirty minutes looking up flower bouquet ties on her phone before Bellamy stopped her.

Clarke just hoped Diyoza was going to like everything.  Clarke had gone with Bellamy to help pick out the rings.  It had been fun, until they’d realised their bosses had completely different tastes in rings.  Kane wanted something simple and timeless, whereas Diyoza wanted something that was elegant but practical.  After arguing for twenty minutes and making the shop clerk very awkward, they decided on a happy medium; silver bands with engraved patterns that looked simple, but were actually very intricate.

Clarke found that she didn’t even mind arguing with Bellamy over this sort of stuff.  They were fine almost immediately afterwards, though she didn’t think she’d let him live it down that he wanted to buy them rose gold rings, no matter how fashionable they were.

Clarke was pretty certain that Bellamy had become her best friend at some point.  Raven would always be her closest and oldest friend, but Bellamy knew her in a way that Raven didn’t.  Clarke found herself wanting to spend more and more time with Bellamy. 

She started making excuses to see him both in and out of work.  Raven had started shooting her knowing smirks when she left their catch-ups to go and meet with Bellamy.  Clarke wasn’t sure _when_ she realised she might see Bellamy as more than a friend, but she couldn’t un-see it.  She squashed her feelings down every time they bubbled up, but she was worried that soon that wouldn’t be enough to stop them.

“Clarke!”  Diyoza called from her office.  Clarke was snapped from her thoughts.  She made her way into the office, ready to do whatever Diyoza asked.  Diyoza waved her over to the desk and Clarke sat down in the chair across from her.

“This is the first draft of the guest list,” Diyoza told her as she handed over the list.  Clarke scanned over the list and frowned.  It was almost over three times what Clarke and Bellamy had planned for.  She bit her lip as she read down the list; she knew most of Diyoza’s family by name, but a lot of this list was filled with people she didn’t know.  She was sure she’d heard some of their names, but she couldn’t place why.

“Clarke,” Diyoza started.  Clarke’s head snapped up and she looked over at the other woman.  “You’re a good assistant.”

Clarke frowned, not sure where she was going.

“After all this wedding shit is done, we’re going to have to focus on the campaign again.”  Clarke nodded and Diyoza carried on.  “I’d like you to be on my campaign team.”

Clarke didn’t know what to say.  This was everything she’d wanted from this job.  No more running around to get coffees, finally she would be working in politics.

“That would be amazing,” Clarke replied with a genuine smile.  Diyoza smiled back for a moment.

“Now back to business; the venue needs to be well lit,” Diyoza explained as she looked out over the New York skyline.  “The pictures need to come out well.”

Clarke frowned.  _The pictures?_   Something clicked in Clarke’s head and she read over the list again.  Names jumped out at her again – reporters’ names.  She remembered that Diyoza had meetings with them last year when she was campaigning.

“These are all reporters,” she said aloud.  Diyoza observed her.

“Of course,” Diyoza said with a hint of a smile on her face.  “If I’m getting married I want everyone to see it.”

Clarke frowned, but nodded anyway.

“Does Marcus know?”  Clarke asked.  It was Diyoza’s turn to frown now.

“Not yet,” she replied tentatively.  “Marrying Marcus is extremely good publicity for me, especially with all of his left-wing views.  I might actually be able to sway a lot of voters this way.”

Clarke felt uneasy.  Surely, Diyoza only saw this as a perk of their marriage.

“Well, it’s good that you love him, then,” Clarke joked.  Diyoza raised her eyebrow at Clarke and Clarke felt her mouth go dry in response.

“That’s what everyone has to think,” Diyoza said carefully.  Clarke felt dread pool in her stomach.  _What had they done?_  

 

***

 

Despite setting their bosses up to make their lives easier, Bellamy found his life was even more hectic now than it had been before.  Wedding planning was taking its toll on him, and he was more than ready for it to be done so he could go back to taking long lunches and reading over his manuscripts.  Maybe once all this was done, he’d finally get chance to do some actual writing.

He and Clarke had got nearly everything ready for the wedding; they just needed to view and book the venue.  Clarke, being Clarke, had searched extensively online and had selected a venue that fit their needs.  Bellamy was walking back to the office from picking up Kane’s suit for the wedding day when his phone rang.

He stopped walking and started to search his pocket.  He assumed it was going to be Echo, calling to continue their argument from the night before.  That was another reason he couldn’t wait for the wedding to be done with, he was arguing with Echo more and more recently and Bellamy was certain it was because he was stressed about this wedding.

When he took his phone out of his pocket he saw it wasn’t Echo that was calling, but Clarke.

“Hey,” he answered with an easy smile.

“Bell,” she replied.  His heart jumped at the nickname, no one except Octavia called him that.  He wasn’t sure where Clarke had got it from, but he wasn’t complaining.

“Are you nearly back yet?”  She pressed on.  “I’m stuck in a meeting and the cab will be here to pick us up in ten minutes.”

Bellamy checked his watch as he walked, he had time yet.

“I’ll be about five minutes, Princess,” he replied with a smile.  He could almost hear her roll her eyes down the line.

“If you’re going back to the building, please could you pick up Diyoza’s guest list?  I left it on my desk and I don’t think I’ll have time to get it.”

Bellamy shook his head, _typical_. 

“Sure,” he replied.

“Thank you,” she said in a sing-song voice.

“I’ll see you soon,” he told her as he reached the entrance to their offices.

 

Bellamy was used to navigating his was to Diyoza’s office.  Since they had announced the wedding, Bellamy spent more and more time with Diyoza.  He was quickly learning that she liked to get things done, and get them done fast.  He dropped the suits off in Kane’s office before heading towards the elevators.

Diyoza’s office was bustling with activity when he got there.  Everyone was helping Diyoza plan her wedding and the place was loud with chatter.  He quickly made his way over to Clarke’s desk.  He spotted the guest list and made to grab it.

“This needs to look good.”  Diyoza’s door was open and Bellamy could hear her part of the conversation.  “No!  It will look a lot better if I get married _before_ the campaign.”

Bellamy frowned.  He didn’t know Diyoza very well, but something felt wrong.  Before he could stop himself, he picked up Clarke’s desk phone and pressed the key to listen to the call.

“Well how long is it going to drag on for?”  Asked a male voice.  Bellamy looked over at the Caller ID and saw it was McCreary; head of Diyoza’s campaign team.

“I don’t know,” Diyoza replied, sounding bored.  “Until I’ve swayed the voters.  When I’ve got them in my pocket I’ll divorce him discreetly.”

Ice ran through Bellamy’s blood as Diyoza continued to explain her plan to McCreary.  Bellamy slammed the phone down.  Diyoza didn’t want to marry Kane out of love, she was using him for publicity.  He felt sick.

 

***

 

The venue Clarke had chosen was a state over.  She met Bellamy in the foyer of their office building.  He was quiet on the drive over, only giving non-committal noises in answer to her questions.  She didn’t ask him what was wrong; he’d been arguing with Echo again this week, she knew.  She tried to fill the conversation by telling him about Raven’s idea to get a puppy, but even that couldn’t draw a conversation out of him.

Clarke was tired before they’d even reached the venue.  When the cab driver finally came to a stop outside the tall iron gates, Clarke was dreading the full tour.  They paid the cab driver and both made their way out of the cab.

“This is big,” Bellamy commented as they walked up the driveway.

“Yeah,” Clarke agreed.  “Diyoza’s guest list was like three hundred people.”

Bellamy stayed quiet and she looked over at him, trying to figure out what was wrong.

“Kane wanted a small wedding,” he said quietly as they reached the main entrance.  “Just family and friends.”

Clarke stayed quiet.  She knew why Diyoza wanted a big wedding, but she couldn’t say that to Bellamy.  If Clarke wanted to keep her job, she’d have to let the wedding play out.

The staff at the large country house showed them around the venue, showing off different reception rooms and reception rooms.

“This would be perfect for a first dance,” Clarke said as she looked around the ballroom.  Bellamy trailed behind her with his hands in his pockets.  The manager had left them to look around the rooms for a while.

“I don’t know, Clarke,” Bellamy said in a cold tone.  She looked over her shoulder at him with confusion. “Is there enough space for all the cameras that need to be set up?”

Clarke turned to face him fully.  Bellamy’s face was tight, his jaw set and his nostrils flaring slightly.  She’d never seen him like this before and it was worrying her.

“What are you-” Clarke started.

“Well, we want Diyoza’s latest publicity stunt to be on the front pages,” he continued roughly.  “It would be a shame if the pictures were all terrible.”

Clarke felt her blood run cold.  Her eyes widened as he looked over at her.  She didn’t want to ask how he knew, but he’d learned about Diyoza’s publicity stunt.  She looked away, refusing to meet his eye.

“You knew?”  He asked, she could hear the hurt in his voice.  Clarke looked up at him pleadingly.  His eyes searched her face and he saw what he was looking for.  His jaw clenched and Clarke inhaled sharply.

“Bellamy-” she started.

“What the hell, Clarke?”  He asked, his voice coming out pained.  Clarke hated that she had caused this.  She’d never heard him so emotional before and it was like a slap to the face.

“We’ve not done anything wrong,” Clarke argued back, standing her ground.  Her heart was thumping loudly in her chest.  Every aspect of Diyoza’s relationship with Kane was fake, so why did it matter if this was too?

“So you’re going to help Diyoza break Kane’s heart?”  He asked, anger bubbling in his voice.  Clarke looked at him wordlessly.  She tried to get words out to justify their actions, but nothing would come. He shook his head and scrubbed a hand over his face.

“I get it,” he said, looking at her with an anger in his eyes that Clarke had never seen.  “I get that you think what we’re doing is right but it’s not, Clarke.  I’m not helping you ruin Kane’s life.  He deserves better than that.”

Telling Kane was a bad idea; everything would come crashing down on them, couldn’t Bellamy see that?  Sometimes, withholding the truth was the right thing to do.  Telling Kane would only hurt him more.

“Bellamy,” she whispered.  It was a last-ditch effort.  Her face burned at the disappointed gaze he was holding over her.  “We’re good people.”

He clenched his jaw and shook his head.

“Maybe if you keep saying it, I’ll believe you.”  She felt hot tears prickle her eyes.   “I can’t do this, Clarke.  I’m telling Kane.”

He turned and walked out of the ballroom, leaving her standing in the middle of the room, listening to his footsteps echo as he left.  Anger stabbed through her chest.  She wanted to call after him, to try and talk him out of it, but the words tasted like ash on her tongue as they died.

 

***

 

Bellamy knew he had to tell Kane, it was the right thing to do.  It was just difficult finding the right time.  Despite the fact that he was getting married in less than two weeks, Kane was still moving from meeting to meeting with potential investors and clients.  Finally, a short window of time appeared in between client meetings and Bellamy took it.

“Mr. Kane?”  Bellamy asked as he entered the office.  Kane waved him in and Bellamy closed the door behind him, not wanting the entire office to hear this.

“Is everything alright, Bellamy?”  Kane asked with a worried expression.  “Is Charmaine alright?”

Bellamy cleared his throat and steeled himself for the bomb he was about to set off.

“You can’t marry her,” he blurted.  Kane looked at him, shock evident on his face.  Bellamy pressed on.  “None of your relationship is real.  Clarke and I, we set you up.  We wanted more time off and we saw that you were both single so we organised everything.  The dates, the outfits, everything.  You can’t marry her-”

“Enough, Bellamy.”  Kane spoke finally.  Bellamy looked over at him.  He didn’t look angry and when he gave Bellamy a small smile, Bellamy felt his stomach drop.  Kane didn’t understand.

“It doesn’t matter how we met,” Kane said.  “We’re together now and that’s all that matters.”

“No, Marcus,” Bellamy said urgently.  “She’s using you, you’re not in love-”

“Don’t talk to me about love,” Kane said, his voice growing angrier with each word.  “I don’t care if _you_ think we love each other or not.  I know what I feel is real, and Charmaine feels the same.  I’m marrying her.”  Kane stood up from his desk.

“Marcus-” Bellamy pleaded.

“Get out,” Kane ground out, his smile completely gone from his features.  He was glaring at Bellamy with anger in his eyes.  Bellamy’s breath caught painfully, Kane had never looked at him like that in all his years.  After every screw up, he’d been there to forgive him and set him back on the right path.

“What?” 

“Get. Out.  You’re fired.”  This was one screw up too far.  Bellamy looked over at Kane and the older man dropped his gaze.  Bellamy stepped backwards, shocked.  Kane couldn’t even look at him.  Bellamy felt anger and hurt rise in his chest.  He clenched his jaw and left the room.  

Packing up his desk wasn’t easy, it had over five years of memories scattered across it.  Kane didn’t come out of his office as Bellamy packed everything away and he was glad.  He huffed out a humourless laugh; six years at the same job and the only thing he had to show for it was a box of possessions that wasn’t even half full.  He packed a notebook away and a slip of paper fell out.  It was one of Clarke’s doodles; the one of him as a Roman.  He felt hurt wash over him all over again.  Before he could think better of it, he crumpled it up and threw it in the trash as he walked out.

 

***

 

Clarke fretted all the way back to the office.  After Bellamy left, she had to deal with the manager and the logistics of hiring the venue.  She sat with the manager for a long time, talking through guest numbers and seating arrangements.  Every time cameras or news reporters were brought up Clarke felt sick.  She only half-listened as he dragged on about food options.

After almost an hour of discussing the venue, Clarke was allowed to leave.  Feeling tired and sorry for herself, she traipsed back towards the entrance, only to find the cab was gone.  _Great,_ she thought as she pulled her phone out to call another cab.

The ride back to the city was uneventful.  Clarke spent much of the time working out what she was going to say to Bellamy.  She needed to talk him out of telling Kane.  It didn’t matter now, everything for the wedding had already been booked.  If he told Kane now, it would just mess everything up and leave them both without a job.

Clarke all but threw her money at the cab driver and made her way towards her office.  Kane would know something was up if she went to his office, but she had Bellamy’s number in her speed dial.

Clarke rang the number when she reached her desk.  After a couple of rings, he picked up.

“Bellamy, you were right, I-” Clarke sighed as she thought over what to say to him.

“This is Mr. Kane’s office, can I help?”  Came a voice that was _not_ Bellamy’s.  Clarke felt her mouth run dry.

“Hello?” The voice came again.  Clarke’s thoughts were spinning, where was Bellamy?  Was he okay?  Did he talk to Kane already?  Did Kane fire him?

“Sorry,” Clarke mumbled.  “Wrong number.”

She put the phone back on its cradle.  Her head was whizzing with possibilities, maybe that was just a temp to cover Kane’s phone while Bellamy was out.  She shook her head, she knew all Kane’s calls diverted to Bellamy’s cell if he was out of the office. 

She slumped into her desk chair and picked up her cell phone.  Did she call him?  Was that the right thing to do?

Her thumb hovered over the contact number for Bellamy.

“Clarke?”  Asked Diyoza, strolling out of her office.  “How was the venue?”

Clarke put her phone away and faked a smile.

 

***

 

Not having a job wasn’t as bad as Bellamy had thought it was going to be.  Sure, he didn’t have any incoming money anymore, and he was living off free samples from the deli across the street.  But he also had infinitely more free time.  As soon as he’d left Kane’s office he’d gone home, unsure of what to do.  Miller had been concerned, but listened to him when he’d explained what happened.  Miller suggested they get stupidly drunk, but Bellamy passed, he had a novel to work on.

So that’s what Bellamy did.  He poured all his efforts into getting his first manuscript done, since he had nothing better to do.  After the first day, he got into the swing of things.  Sometime later, he was fully immersed in his writing – “in the zone” as Octavia would say – and nothing could pull him away from his laptop.  He was so engrossed he wasn’t sure what day it was, all he knew was what he was writing and when he needed coffee and food. 

After almost a week of writing non-stop, Bellamy was finally at a place with his story that he felt happy with.  He leaned back into his chair and smiled to himself.  He’d done it, he’d actually written something that he was proud of.  This called for celebration.  Without thinking, he reached for his cell to call Clarke.  She was going to be so proud of him for actually getting some writing done.  His thumb was hovering over her contact information when realisation slapped him in the face and he was reminded of everything.  He continued scrolling through his contacts and found who he really wanted to celebrate with.

 

Bellamy looked around the small restaurant; it was quite small with weird artwork on the walls, but it was homely and he knew the food was good.  It reminded him of Luigi’s where Diyoza liked to eat.  He squashed that thought away and looked over at his girlfriend.

“What are we doing here, Bellamy?”  Echo asked as she looked around the room.  “I thought you made reservations across the street.”

Bellamy had seen the restaurant across the street, it was bigger and was always fully booked.  He’d never get a table there in a thousand lifetimes, especially not now that he was unemployed.  She scrunched her nose up as she glanced at the menu.  Bellamy reached up to scratch the back of his neck, unsure of where to start.

“I got fired,” he announced.  _Rip the band aid off_ , he told himself.  Echo looked up from her menu with shock and started at him as if he’d grown another head.

“What?”  She asked in horror.  Bellamy felt his face heat up as she looked around to see if anyone had heard them.

“Yeah,” Bellamy admitted.  “But it’s a good thing.”

He tried to reassure her, but she wasn’t buying into it.  She continued to stare at him with wide eyes.

“Now I’ve got more time to focus on my writing,” he said with a smile.  Echo rolled her eyes at him.

“What do you want me to say, Bellamy?”  She asked with a shrug.

“Nothing,” he said, his brows knitting together.  “I thought maybe you’d be happy for me.”

Echo snorted.  “You have no job and you live in a shitty apartment, but now you’re writing a book you want me to be happy for you?”

Bellamy looked down, suddenly ashamed.  He was reminded of the time when he was fifteen and he got fired from one of his three jobs.  His mom had chewed him out for it for weeks. 

“I can’t do this anymore,” Echo said, putting the menu down.  Bellamy slowly raised his gaze to hers.  She was looking at him expectantly.  Her face wasn’t betraying any emotion.

“Okay,” he said finally.  He couldn’t force her to be happy when she wasn’t.

“Okay?”  Echo scoffed.

Bellamy made a noise of agreement.

“I thought you’d fight for me, for _us_ , at least?”  Her voice was getting higher and higher and Bellamy could see people turning their attention towards them.

“I’m happy where I am,” he explained with a light shrug.  “I might not have a job, but I’m finally doing something that makes me happy.  I thought maybe you’d accept that, but I know you’d rather date me if I was miserable just so that we could go to dinner across the street.”

Echo was silent. She picked up her handbag and left the restaurant.  Bellamy didn’t call after her.  That was it.  They’d been together for nearly a year and he didn’t even feel anything over it.  He watched as Echo walked down the street and hailed a cab.  Bellamy didn’t feel sad, if anything he felt good. 

 

***

 

Clarke was miserable.  Summer was slowly coming to an end, everyone in the office had gone into what she liked to call “Campaign Mode” and Diyoza was more stressed than ever.  On top of everything, she had to plan a wedding by herself in two weeks. 

Clarke had found out from Harper that Bellamy had gotten fired.  She hadn’t tried to speak to him since then.  She wanted to reach out to him, but she didn’t know what to say.  She still had her job because she hadn’t wanted to tell Kane.  They weren’t doing anything wrong, she told herself.  Maybe Diyoza would fall in love with Kane once they were married and everything would be fine?

Clarke knew that was almost impossible.  Once Diyoza set her mind to something, that was it, and she was so certain of herself that she was unlikely to change her mind.

Clarke was staring out of the window of Diyoza’s office watching the rain patter on the window.  The autumnal colours mixing with the rain made her want to get out her sketchbook.  She sighed, she had too much work to do to be drawing.  She turned back to the files in front of her and went over the wedding guest list again.

Clarke frowned down at the list as she scanned it again.  It spanned over three pages, but the first two were reserved for close family and friends.  She flicked through the last page just to check.  No, she was right, Vera Kane was missing from the guest list.  Had Kane removed his own mother from the wedding?  Clarke was sure she’d been on the list a few days ago.

Clarke started rooting around her desk drawers, looking for the draft guest lists Diyoza had given her.  Clarke knew Kane wanted a small wedding with only friends and family, so why would he take his mother off the list?  Clarke found one of the older guest lists; one where Kane and Diyoza had worked together to compile the list with different handwriting on each page.  Clarke recognised Diyoza’s curving script from seeing it every day, but Kane’s blocky precise handwriting was clearly distinguishable from Diyoza’s.  While Diyoza’s list had multiple celebrities and politicians with some family littered between, Kane’s list was modest in comparison with only family and close friends.

Clarke felt her heart squeeze painfully.  Either Kane had decided to uninvite his own parents to his wedding, or Diyoza had tampered with the guest list.  Either way, Clarke was going to Kane to find out the truth.  Clarke navigated her way through the building with purpose.  The elevator ride down to Kane’s office seemed to take a lifetime.  Clarke smiled tightly at the man in the elevator that tried to make conversation with her, and she all but ran out when the doors opened to the level she needed.

Kane’s office was busy when she got there, the past few times she’d been to visit Bellamy it had been a relaxed environment, now it was hectic.  She dodged out of the way of a woman running with coffee, and had to sidestep a man rushing out of the office door.  The office was in mayhem.  Clarke pinched the bridge of her nose and walked with purpose to Kane’s office.  His secretary was calling at her as she walked forwards, but she ignored him.

She knocked and he called her in.

“Marcus, you can’t marry Diyoza,” she started as she walked through the door.

She stopped dead.  Charmaine Diyoza was stood next to Kane’s desk, leaning over his shoulder to look at his computer screen.  Clarke’s eyes widened and Diyoza raised her eyebrow.

“Why ever not?”  Diyoza asked with a sickly-sweet smile.  Clarke’s stomach tightened.  No, she _had_ to do this.

“Because,” she continued.  Kane looked up at her with a curious gaze.  Clarke steeled herself and continued.  “She’s using you for publicity. And -”

“This is ludicrous,” Diyoza interrupted.  Kane held up his hand.

“I want to hear what Clarke has to say,” Kane said, and Clarke shot him a grateful smile.  Diyoza opened her mouth to argue but Clarke pressed on.

“Bellamy heard her talking to McCreary and she’s going to divorce you after the election.”  Clarke looked down at the guest list in her hand.  She passed it over to Kane, Diyoza stepped away from the desk and around towards Clarke.

“She took your mother off the guest list,” Clarke said, looking at Diyoza.  Diyoza’s face morphed into anger as Clarke held her gaze.  She turned back towards her fiancé.

“Marcus, this is-”

“Is it true?”  Kane asked, looking up from the list.  Clarke could see hurt in his gaze.  She looked away; this was the right thing to do, she told herself.

Diyoza stayed quiet.  Silence engulfed the office and Clarke felt every second tick by.  The quiet seemed to be answer enough for Kane.

“I can’t do this,” Kane said, standing up from his desk.

“Marcus, please,” Diyoza begged, showing more emotion than Clarke had ever seen.  She stepped around the desk towards him, and he stepped away.  Hurt and anger crossed her face and she turned her attention to Clarke.

Anger bubbled behind her eyes.  Clarke stood proud, knowing what was coming.

“You’re fired,” she spat.  Clarke imagined she’d feel the acidic burn of her hatred if she was stood closer.  Instead, she felt nothing.

“Okay,” said Clarke, giving Diyoza a shrug.  “I was going to quit anyway, turns out politics isn’t my thing.”

Diyoza let out an angry shriek.  Kane stood silent during the exchange but he gave Clarke a thankful nod.  She nodded in return and left the office while she still could.

Shouts erupted from the office as soon as she closed the door behind her.  She leant back against the door and heaved a relieved sigh.  She’d done it.  Clarke’s hand reached for her phone, ready to call Bellamy.  She stared at the screen for a moment and then slid her phone back in her pocket.  Bellamy still wouldn’t want to speak to her, not after everything.  She pushed away from the door with a smile on her face and made her way back up to her office to start packing everything up.

 

***

 

**_3 months later_ **

 

Christmas in New York was one of Clarke’s favourite things.  After all the years she’d lived in the city, this was the first time she’d had spare time to shop for her family and friends.  After Diyoza fired her, Clarke was at a loss.  Clarke tried to be disappointed that she wasn’t going into politics, but Clarke knew it wasn’t for her.  Wells had always been more suited to politics, she told herself.

Clarke spent a few weeks just drawing and painting; since she’d picked up the hobby again over the summer she remembered how much she loved it.  Eventually, money got tight again and she realised she had to go back to work.  She contemplated asking if her mom had any friends that needed assistants, but she had too much pride.  It was Raven that suggested temping.  Zeke had been a temp for a while and Clarke thought it was a great idea.

Temping was different.  Clarke had gone straight from university to working for Diyoza, so she’d never known anything different.  Temping meant that she was working a different kind of office job every week.  It was difficult to adjust to at first, but she loved that all the work stayed in the office; no more late nights in the mailroom, not more coffee runs before she got to work.  Clarke was earning enough money to pay rent, and she had enough spare time to work on her art.

To say Abby was thrilled with Clarke’s new job would be a lie, but to her credit, she refrained from commenting when Clarke told her she’d been fired from Diyoza.  Clarke was happy though, and that was all Abby cared about.  As Christmas drew closer, Abby continued to hint that Clarke should try dating again, but every time Clarke went on a date that Abby had set up for her, she found herself comparing them all to the high standards she’d set for them.  She knew she was comparing all of them to Bellamy, but she couldn’t help it.

Clarke had tried calling Bellamy a few times after she’d quit Diyoza, but he never picked up.  After a while, she’d given up and resigned that she was never going to fix their friendship.  What made matters worse was the big question mark hanging over their relationship.  Were they just really close friends, or would they have morphed into something further if they were given time?  There was no way to know now.

Clarke had tried to bury away her feelings, saying she cared for Bellamy as just a friend, but now that they weren’t speaking she missed him so much more than she had missed anyone.  Every time she thought about him it felt like she’d been stabbed in the heart.  Every time she scrolled through her phone and saw his contact information that she refused to delete, it was like the knife was twisted inside her.  She missed her best friend.

 

Snow had lightly dusted the sidewalk when she exited the building.  The envelope in her hand was all that was left to show of her two years working for Diyoza.  It was funny really, Diyoza had Clarke bending over backwards daily for over two years and all Clarke had to show for it was a weird collection of stationary and a letter or recommendation that she didn’t dare read.  She sighed as she pushed the door open.

Cold air whipped up to her face and she was glad she’d worn her hat today.  If only she’d worn the matching gloves too.  She stepped out, watching her step for snow.  The last thing she wanted was to break her leg right before Christmas.  Clarke was actually free for the whole Christmas break for the first time in a long time.  Her mom was away on a cruise holiday, so Clarke was spending the holidays with Raven and Zeke in their apartment.

Clarke readjusted the strap on her bag and set off towards the subway station.  She hadn’t made a step forward when she stopped dead.  In the middle of the sidewalk was none other than Bellamy Blake.  Clarke’s heart melted at the sight of him; he was dressed in casual clothing with a hat on to keep him from the cold.  He was wearing his glasses which were fogging up slightly in the cold weather.

Clarke took a deep breath, building up her courage and made her way towards him.

“Hey,” she said.  He turned towards her and she saw shock cross his features, followed by a small smile that he bit his lip to stop spreading.

“Hey,” he replied easily.  Clarke felt her own face morphing into a smile.  Seeing him now brought back everything she’d tried to push away over the last few months.

“What are you doing here?”  She asked hopefully.

“I, uh, I wrote part of my book,” he admitted, looking down.  “Kane said he’d look over the first few chapters.”  He was scratching the back of his head and Clarke had to bite her lip to stop a full smile spreading across her features.

“Bellamy, that’s great!”  She exclaimed excitedly.  His gaze made its way back up to hers and he returned her smile for a moment.

He cleared his throat, his smile dropping from his face as he schooled his features.  Clarke felt hurt stab through her chest, he was still angry with her.

“What about you?”  He asked, gesturing towards the letter in her hand.

“Oh,” she said, putting the letter in her handbag before it got covered in snow.  “Harper texted me that I had to come pick up my letter of recommendation.”

“Letter of recommendation?”  He asked, confused.

“She fired me, Bellamy,” Clarke told him.  His eyebrows rose up with shock.

“I told her everything,” she elaborated.  Bellamy nodded and looked over the street at the people shopping for Christmas presents.

“I’m sorry,” he said, still not looking at her.

Clarke sighed and stepped closer to him.  Bellamy turned back to look at her curiously.  She took a deep breath.

“No, Bellamy,” she explained.  “I’m sorry.  You were right, we should have told them together.  I’m sorry that you got fired because of me and I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you.”

She looked down at her shoes. 

“Hey,” Bellamy said quietly.  She slowly lifted her gaze to his.  He was looking at her softly and she felt hope bubble in her chest.  “It’s okay, Clarke.  Getting fired by Kane was one of the best things that ever happened to me.”

Clarke huffed a laugh and Bellamy smiled in return.  The cold was biting at his cheeks, making them rosy and Clarke felt her heart jump.  She wanted to remember this moment so she could paint it later: the snow in his hair, making it curl; his freckles pronounced on the bridge of his nose; and his easy smile just like she remembered.

“I’m proud of you, Bellamy,” she blurted before she could stop herself.  He ducked his head and smiled at the ground.  He looked so young and Clarke felt affection swell inside her.

“So, what are you doing now?”  He asked, deflecting away from the praise she’d given him.  She didn’t mind, they could work on it.

“I’m temping,” she replied.  “I needed a job and this way I can do my art in my free time.”

“That’s good,” he said with a nod, smiling widely at her.

She held his gaze, people passing by them.  He opened his mouth as if to speak, but she cut him off, not wanting the conversation to end just yet.

“How’s Echo?”  She asked.  He raised an eyebrow at her and she shrugged lightly.

“Uh,” he said around a smile.  “We broke up.”

Clarke’s heart soared.  A smile grew on her lips and she schooled her face. 

“I’m sorry,” she said, reaching forward to touch his arm.  Bellamy shrugged.

“I’m not,” he said and Clarke met his gaze.  His tongue flicked out to wet his lips and her eyes followed the movement.  She snapped her gaze up to his and saw laughter dancing in his eyes.

“It’s difficult to be with someone when you have feeling for someone else,” Bellamy whispered.  He reached up and tucked a lock of hair behind her ear.  Clarke felt hot all over despite the chill of the cold.

“And I do, Clarke,” he said quietly.  He stepped towards her and Clarke felt her heart race.  “Have feelings for you.”

Clarke swallowed.  He looked into her eyes as if for permission.  Clarke trailed her hand up from his arm to his shoulder and used her other hand to bring his face closer to her.

“I have feelings for you too,” she whispered when they were merely inches apart.  Bellamy huffed a laugh and his warm breath fanned across her face.

Clarke closed her eyes as his lips pressed against hers.  She sighed as his warm mouth pressed against hers just perfectly.  It was everything she’d thought it would be.  Clarke pulled him closer and he wrapped his arms tightly around her.  She was cocooned within his arms, she felt safe. 

Snow continued to fall around them, getting heavier now.  She felt it stick to her eyelashes and melt between them.  She found herself smiling into the kiss, making it less than perfect, but she didn’t care.  Bellamy pulled away slightly, but stayed close.  He kissed her cheeks, her nose, her chin.  Clarke giggled as he warmed her face.

“You have no idea how long I’ve wanted to do that,” he told her as he pressed his forehead against hers.

Clarke laughed happily.  “I think I have an idea.”

He leaned back to look at her, a wide smile on his face.  He caught her lips with his again and Clarke returned the kiss.  He pulled back and she tried to follow his lips, he chuckled against her lips.

“How’s your schedule for the day?”  He asked and Clarke bit her lip.

“Oh, it’s hectic,” she teased.  He rolled his eyes and captured her lips with his sweetly.  Clarke felt herself go warm all over, she didn’t think she’d ever get bored of kissing Bellamy.

“Are you free for a lunch date?”  He whispered against her lips.

“Only if it doesn’t involve wedding cake again,” she replied. 

He laughed against her lips and stepped away.  Clarke missed the loss of contact but Bellamy took her hand in his immediately.  Her hands still fit perfectly in his and Clarke found herself smiling as they walked down the street.  She squeezed his warm hand and he looked over to her with a grin.  He squeezed back and led her towards the subway station.

**Author's Note:**

> Phew! I hope you all liked it!  
> As always, I'm on [tumblr](http://www.blueshirtbell.tumblr.com) so come chat with me!


End file.
